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ROMAN WALL 



HISTORICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE 
ACCOUNT OF THE 

Barrier of t|)e iLotoer 3f stijmus, 

EXTENDING ER03I THE TINE TO THE SOLATAY, 

DEDUCED FROM NUMEROUS PERSONAL SURVEYS, 



BY THE 

REV. JOHN COLLTNGWOOD BRUCE, Iff. A. 




LONDON : JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 4, OLD-COMPTON-STREET, SOHO SQUARE. 

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE ; WILLIAM SANG, 61, GREY STREE r ; 
G. BOUCHIER RICHARDSON, 38, CLAYTON-STREE T-WEST. 

M.DCCC.LT. 



^ 






*\\ 



NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE ', 

IMPRINTED BY GEORGE BOUCHIER RICHARDSON, CLAYTON-STREET-WEST ) PPINTER 

TO THE SOCIETY OP ANTIQUARIES, AND TO THE TYPOGRAPHICAL ■ SOCIETY, 

BOTH OP NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, 



F9 9 







TO 

JOHN CLAYTON, Esquire, 

THE PROPRIETOR 

OF THE 

MOST SPLENDID REMAINS OF THE ROMAN BARRIER 
IN NORTHUMBERLAND 

WHOSE 

ANTIQUARIAN INTELLIGENCE AND CLASSICAL LEARNING 

' HAVE BEEN MOST PROFUSELY AND KINDLY 

AFFORDED TO THE AUTHOR 

THIS WORK 

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MILITARY CHARACTER AND USAGES 

OF A GREAT PEOPLE 

IS MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. 



I PREFACE 



The famous Roman Wall, which, in former times, 
protected southern Britain from the ravages of the 
northern tribes, exhibits, at this day, remains more 
entire, and forms a subject of study more interesting 
than is generally supposed. 

Two authors of great learning have treated of this 
renowned structure — Horsley, in the Britannia 
Romana, and Hodgson, in the last volume of his His- 
tory of Northumberland. Both are treatises of 
considerable size, and both are, to a certain extent, 
rare. The Britannia Romana, moreover, describes the 
Wall, not as it is, but as it was more than a century 
ago. Hodgson's work is of recent date, and forms a 
valuable storehouse of nearly all that is known upon 
the subject. The mind, however, of that amiable 
man and zealous antiquary was, at the time of its 
preparation, bending under the weight of his ill-re- 
quited labours, and he has failed to present his ample 
materials to the reader in that condensed and well- 
arranged form which distinguishes his previous vol- 
umes, and without which a book on antiquities will 
not arrest the attention of the general reader. 



VI. PREFACE. 

The following work may be regarded as introduc- 
tory to the elaborate productions of Horsley and 
Hodgson. The reader is not assumed to be ac- 
quainted with the technicalities of archaeology ; and, 
at each advancing step the information is supplied 
which may render his course easy. I have not at- 
tempted, in the last part of the work, to enumerate 
all the altars and inscribed stones which have been 
found upon the line of the Wall, but have made a 
selection of those which are most likely to interest 
the general reader, and to give him a correct idea of 
the nature and value of these remains. 

In the body of the work I have endeavoured to 
furnish a correct delineation of the present condition 
of the Wall and its outworks. All my descriptions 
are the result of personal observation. To secure 
as great accuracy as possible, I have read over many 
of my proof sheets on the spot which they describe. 

The pictorial illustrations have been prepared 
with care, and will give the reader, who is not dis- 
posed to traverse the ground, a correct idea of the 
state of the Barrier. The wood-cuts and plates, 
illustrative of the antiquities found on the line, have, 
with the exception of a few coins introduced into 
the first Part of the volume, and copied from 
the Monumenta Historica, been prepared from 
original drawings, taken for this work from the ob- 
jects themselves. I am not without hope that the 
well-read antiquary will value these delineations for 
their beauty and accuracy. 



PREFACE. Vll. 

The inhabitants of the isthmus are proud of the 
Wall and its associations ; and whatever may have 
been the case with their forefathers, will not need- 
lessly destroy it. Most kind has been the recep- 
tion I have met with in my peregrinations, and 
most valuable the assistance I have received from 
the gentry and yeomen of the line, and others in- 
terested in my labours ! Gladly would T enumer- 
ate all to whom I am indebted, had it been possible. 
Some names, however, must be mentioned. His 
Grace the Duke of Northumberland has not only 
given me free access to all his antiquarian stores, but 
directed me to prepare at his expense engravings on 
wood of all that I thought suitable to my purpose. 
Would that his Grace knew how much I have 
been cheered in my course by his notice of my 
humble labours ! To John Clayton, esq., I am 
obliged for the gift of the wood- cuts illustrat- 
ive of the numerous and interesting antiquities 
preserved at Cilurnum, the produce of that station 
and Borcovicus. To Albert Way, esq., the ac- 
complished and honorary secretary of the Archaeo- 
logical Institute, with whom I had last year the 
pleasure and advantage of spending a day upon 
the Wall, I am indebted for the cuts representing 
the altar and slab discovered at Tynemouth. The 
suite of wood-cuts illustrative of the hoard of coins 
found in the ancient quarry on Barcombe-hill 7 
have been engraved at the expense of my tried 



Vlll. PREFACE. 

and valued friend, John Fenwick, esq., of New- 
castle-upon-Tyne ; and to William Kell, esq., 
town- clerk of Gateshead, with whom I have tra- 
versed the Wall from sea to sea, and some por- 
tions of it repeatedly, [ am indebted for the 
beautiful representation of the ancient Pons JElii 
fronting the title-page. My former school-fellow, 
William Woodman, esq., town-clerk of Morpeth, 
besides otherwise assisting me, has caused surveys 
to be made for my use of not fewer than eighty of 
the strongholds of the Britons still existing on the 
heights north of the Wall. To trace the movements 
of the brave people whom the Romans drove to the 
more inaccessible portions of the island, would have 
been an interesting sequel to the account of the 
Roman Wall, but I found the undertaking too great 
for me. 

It is with no ordinary emotion that I write 
the last lines of a work to the preparation of which 
I have devoted the leisure of three years. The 
Wall and I must now part company. Gladly 
would I have withheld the publication of this 
work for the Horatian period, and have spent the 
interval in renewed investigations ; though even 
then I should have felt that I had fallen short of 

1 The height of this great argument ;' 
other cares, however, now demand my attention. 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1 Januarys 1851, 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS, 



The Most Noble Algernon Duke of Northumberland, 
Patron of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne. Quarto and octavo. 

The Right Honourable the Earl Grey, Lord Lieutenant of 
the County of Northumberland. 

The Right Honourable the Earl of Carlisle. 

The Right Honourable Lord Londesborough. 

Quarto and Octavo. 

The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Durham. 

The Honourable Henry Thomas Liddell, Eslington, North- 
umberland. Quarto and octavo. 

The Right Honourable Sir George Grey, Bart. 

Sir John Edward Swinburne, Bart., Capheaton, Northum- 
berland, President of the Society of Antiquaries of New- 
castle-upon-Tyne. 

Sir John P. Boileau Bart., F.R.S., Ketteringham, Norfolk, and 
Upper Brook-street, London. 

Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, Bart., Wallington, High 
Sheriff of Northumberland. 

Sir William Lawson, Bart., Brough Hall. 

Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H., F.R.S. Deputy Keeper of the 
Public Records, London. 

William Armstrong, Esq., Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Rev. R. C Coxe, M.A., Vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The University of Edinburgh. Quarto. 

The British Archaeological Association. 

The Archaeological Institute of Great Britain aEd Ireland. 

The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 

The Society of Writers to her Majesty's Signet, Edinburgh. 



X. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 

The Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Literary and Philosophical Society, North Shields. 

The Mechanics' Institute, Gateshead. 

The Mechanics' Institute, South Shields. 

The Scientific and Mechanical Institution, Alnwick. 

The Edinburgh Select Library. 

The Wansbeck Book Club. 

Richard Abbatt, esq., Stoke Newington, London. 

John Adamson, esq., one of the Secretaries of the Society of 
Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; and one of the Secreta- 
ries of the Literary and Philosophical Soc, of the same town. 

R. Addison, esq., The Friary, Appleby. 

Joshua Alder, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

John Anderson, esq., Coxlodge, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Thomas Annandale, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Arthur Ashpitel, esq., F.S.A., 5, Crown-court, City, London. 

George Clayton x\tkinson, esq., Denton, Northumberland. 

Charles Austin, esq., Brandeston Hall, Suffolk. 

William Austin, esq., Egerton House, Berkhampstead. 

J. C. Backhouse, esq., Black well, Darlington. 

Charles Baily, esq., F.S.A., one of the Honorary Secretaries of the 

British Archselogical x\ssociation, Graceehurch-street, London. 
J. Bailey, esq., Wood-street, Cheapside, London. 
The Rev. Thomas Baker, M.A., Rector of Whitburn, Durham. 
Thomas Baker, esq., Official Assignee of the Court of Bankruptcy, 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
The Rev. E. A. Barker, Ludlow. 
Thomas Barnes, esq., M.D., Bunker's-hill, Carlisle. 
Thomas Bateman, esq., M.D., Yolgrave, Bakewell. 
Nathaniel Bates, esq., Milbourne Hall, Northumberland. 
William Beamont, esq., Warrington. 
William Beamont, junior, esq., Trin. Coll. Camb. 
Matthew Bell, esq., M.P., Wolsington, Northumberland. 
The Rev. Meyrick Beebee, Simonburn. 
George Bell, esq. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
John Lee Bell, esq., Brampton. 
Robert Bell, esq., Nook, Irthington. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XI. 

Mr. Robert Bell, Dean-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Thomas Bell, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

James Beman, esq., Cheltenham. 

William Bennett, esq., Newport, Salop. 

John Brodribb Bergne, esq., F.S.A., Treasurer of the Numismatic 
Society, London. 

The Rev. John Besly, D.C.L., Vicar of Long Benton, Northum- 
berland, and Rector of Aston-sub-edge, Gloucestershire. 

The Rev. Frederick Betham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Charles William Bigge, esq., Linden, Northumberland. 

Matthew R. Bigge, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

The Rev. John Frederic Bigge, Stamfordham., Northumberland. 

The Rev. H. J. Bigge, Rockingham, North Hants. 

John Cass Birkinshaw, esq., Whickham, Durham. 

William Bolam, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Whitburn. 

James Bogle, esq., Glasgow. Quarto. 

William Henry Brockett, esq., Gateshead. 

Stamp Brooksbank, esq., The Hermitage, Hexham. 

E. J. J. Browell, esq , East Boldon. 

Mrs. Bruce, senior, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Two copies. 

Mrs. Bruce, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

Miss Williamina Bennett Bruce, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

George Barclay Bruce, esq., M. Inst. C.E., Alston. 

Mr. Gainsford Bruce, University, Glasgow. Quarto. 

Mr. Thomas Bruce, Leghorn. 

John Buchanan, esq., Western Bank of Scotland, Glasgow. 

James Buckman, esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., Cirencester. 

Thomas Burnet, esq., Summerhill-terrace. Quarto. 

Robert Busby, esq., Alnwick. 

Richard Cail, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Duncan Campbell, esq., Lesmahago, Lanarkshire. 

Ralph Carr, esq , Dunston-hill, Durham. Quarto. 

John Lowry Carrick, esq , Sandy sike, Cumberland. 

William Chaffers, jun., esq., F.S.A., London. 

Edward Charlton, esq., M.D., one of the Secretaries of the Society 

of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
William Henry Charlton, esq., Hesleyside. 
Mr. Emerson Chamley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



XU. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS, 

William Chartres, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Rev. Henry Christopherson, Bowdon, near Manchester. 

Miss Anne Clayton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

John Clayton, esq., Town-clerk of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Six copies, Quarto. 
Matthew Clayton, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

Miss Clayton, Chesters, Northumberland. 
Nathaniel Clayton, esq., Chesters, Northumberland. 

Quarto and octavo. 
The Rev. Richard Clayton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
William Clayton Clayton, Esq., Lincoln's Inn, London. Quarto. 
Mr. Thomas L. Colbeck, Denton, Northumberland. 
The Rev. John Collinson, Rector of Boldon, Durham. 
Ralph Compton, esq., Church-court, Old Jewry, London. 
John Coppin, esq., North Shields. 

Capt. Gustavus Hamilton Coulson, R.N., Newbrough, Northum- 
berland. 
John Blenkinsop Coulson, esq., Oehtertyre, Crieff. 
John Ross Coulthart, esq., Croft House, Ashton-under-Lyne. 
Robert Cowen, esq., Carlisle. 
George Cowen, esq., Dalston, Carlisle. 
Joseph Crawhall, esq., Stagshaw. 
William Crighton, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
James Crosby, esq., Church Court, Old Jewry, London. 

William Daggett, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Mr. John Daglish, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Mrs. Daglish, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Rev. William Nicholas Darnell, Rector of Stanhope, Durham. 
Matthew Dawes, esq., F.G.S., Westbrooke, Bolton. 
James Dearden, esq., F.S.A., The Manor, Rochdale. 
Robert Richardson Dees, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
William Dickson, esq., F.S.A., Clerk of the Peace for Northum- 
berland, Alnwick. 
Dixon Dixon, esq., Unthank, Northumberland. Quarto. 

J. P. Dodd, esq., LL.D., North Shields. 
Mrs. Dodd, Greenwood Manse, Wigton. 
The Rev. Isaac Dodgson, Incumbent of Lanercost 
James Menteith Douglas, esq., Stonebyers, Lanarkshire. Quarto, 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Xlll. 

The Rev. G. J. Duncan, North Shields, Northumberland. 
Alfred John Dunkin, esq., Dartford, Kent. 

Samuel Edgar, esq., M.D., Berwick. 

Robert Elliot, esq., M.D., Carlisle. 

Miss Ellis, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Nathaniel Ellison, esq., Commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy, 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Mr. John Ellison, Manchester. 

Dennis Embleton, esq., M.D., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
John Errington, esq., High Warden. Two copies. 

The Very Rev. Monsignor Charles Eyre, Haggerston Castle. 
Joseph Walter King Eyton, esq., F.S.A., Lond. and Scot. Quarto, 

Frederick William Fairholt, esq., F.S.A., Brompton, London. 
John Brunton Falconar, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Thomas Faulkner, esq,, Chelsea. 
R. M. Fawcett, esq., Cambridge. 
The Rev. John Fell, M.A., Huntingdon. 
John Fenwick, esq., Campville, North Shields, (deceased) 
John Fenwick, esq., one of the Secretaries of the Literary and 
Philosophical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

John Clerevaulx Fenwick, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Miss Fergus, Hereford-street, Park-lane, London. 
William Ferguson, esq., Hill-street, Glasgow. 
Robert Ferguson, esq., Shadwell Lodge, Carlisle. 
Mr. John Forrest, Ellison-terrace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
William Finley, esq., Durham. 

William John Forster, esq., Tynemouth. Quarto, 

Messrs. Finlay and Charlton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Hugh Watson Friend, esq., Harbut Lodge, Alston. 
J. H. Fryer, esq., Whitley House. 

John Gainsford, esq., Brighton. 

Mrs. Gainsford, Cheltenham. 

Joseph Garnett, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Mr. Garrett, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Benjamin Gilpin, esq. 

Robert Mortimer Glover, esq., M.D., F.R.S.E., Newcastle. 



XIV. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 



William Glover, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
T. H. Graham, esq., Edmond Castle. 
John Graham, esq., IV]. D., Brampton. 
Richard Grainger, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Thomas Gray, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Benjamin Green, esq , Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
John Grey, esq , Dilston, Northumberland. 
Henry Guy, esq., Gateshead. 



Three copies. 



M. E. Hadfield, esq., Sheffield. 

Charles Hall, esq., Ansty, Blandford, Dorset. 

Mr. William Hall, Milton Station, Cumberland. 

Mr. George Hardcastle, Sunderland. Quarto. 

Mr. Anthony Harrison, Hexham. 

Thomas Emerson Headlam, esq., M.P. 

Thomas Hedley, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Ions Hewison, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

S. Hey wood, esq., Walshaw-hall, Bury, Lancashire. 

William Hill, esq., Edinburgh. 

John Hodgson Hinde, esq., Acton House, Northumberland. Quarto. 

Robert Hodgson, esq., Salkeld Hall, near Penrith. 

Joseph Hope, esq., Carlisle. 

John Houseman, esq., M D., M.R.C.S. L. and E., Newcastle. 

Richard Hoyle, esq., Denton Hall, Northumberland. 

The Rev. J. Hudson, Incumbent of Hexham. 

The Rev, Abraham Hume, LL.D., Liverpool. 

Henry Hunt, esq., Birtley, Durham. 

Mr. W. S. Irving, B.A., Blencow Grammar School, Cumberland. 

Robert Ingham, esq., Westoe, Durham. 

Henry Ingledew, esq , Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Thomas Ions, esq., Mus. Bac , Oxon., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



Henry Jackson, esq., Sheffield Quarto. 

J. M. Jessop, esq., King's College, London. Quarto. 

George Johnson, esq,, Willington, Northumberland. Quarto. 
John Johnson, esq., Killingworth, Northumberland. 

Robert Johnson, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XV 

William Kell, esq., Town Clerk of Gateshead. Quarto and octavo. 
Miss Kemp, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Rev. John Kenrick, York. 

Miss Lamb, Kylesike Hill, Brampton. 

Richard Lambert, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Messrs. M. and M. W. Lambert, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Richard Holland Law, esq., Brunswick -square, London. 

Robert Leadbitter, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

John Leathead, esq., Gallowgate. 

Thomas Carr Lietch, esq., Town Clerk of North Shields. 

Charles J. Lamb, esq., Ryton, Durham. 

William Hylton Longstaffe, esq., Gateshead. Quarto. 

M. A. Lower, esq., Lewes. 

Nicholas Lowes, esq., Allansgreen, Northumberland. 

David Mackinlay, esq., North Shields. Quarto and octavo. 

John Mackinlay, esq., Comptroller of Customs, Whitehaven. 

Henry Mac Lauchlan, esq., Printing-house-square, Blackfriars. 

J. MTntosh, esq., Milton Abbey, near Blandford, Dorsetshire. 

John M'Intosh, esq., Lansdowne Crescent, Glasgow. 

Mr. Luke Mackey, 67, King-street, South Shields. 

The Rev. W. H. Massie, Rector of St. Mary-on-the-Hill, Chester. 

Joseph Mayer, esq., F.S.A., Liverpool. 

Michael Meredith, esq., Finsbury, London. 

Samuel Mitchell, esq., The Mount, near Sheffield. 

John Moore, esq., West Coker, Yeovil, Somerset. 

George Gill Mounsey, esq., Castletown, Carlisle. 

J. B. Musgrave, esq., London. 

The Rev. G. M. Nelson, Bodicot Grange, Banbury. 

Joseph Nelson, esq., Waterloo, Oldham. 

The Rev. Robert Nelson, Edinburgh. 

George Nelson, esq., Fernhill, Pendleton, Manchester. 

Charles H. Newmarch, esq., Cirencester. 

The Rev. William Nichol, Jedburgh. Quarto. 

M. O'Connor, esq., 4, Berners- street, Oxford-street, London. 
Messrs. Ogle and Son, Glasgow. 



Xvi. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 

Mr. George A. Oliver, Rye-hill, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Mrs. W. H. Ord, Riding, Gateshead. 

Robert Ormston, esq., Saville-row, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Rev. Lewis Paige, M.A., Newcastle. 
Mr. Joseph Parker, Brampton. 
George Paton, esq., A.R.A., London. 
Hugh Lee Pattinson, esq., Scots House, near Boldon 
William Pattinson, esq., VVigton. 
Mrs. Peart, North Shields. 

George Hare Philipson, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Robert Plummer, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
The Rev. James Pringle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Mr. Edward Pruddah, Hexham. 
Mr. William Pruddah, Hexham. 

Henry Glasford Potter, esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., etc., Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne. 
Jonathan Priestman, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

William Ramsay, esq.. M,A., F.S.S., F.P.S., Professor of Humanity 
in the University of Glasgow ; Corresponding Member of 
the Archaeological Society of Athens. 

Thomas Ramshaw, esq., Brampton. 

Robert Rawlinson, esq., Superintending Inspector of the General 
Board of Health, Gwydyr House, Whitehall. Quarto. 

The Rev. Wm. Rees, M.A., Carlisle. 

Mr. C. F. Reid, Grey-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Mr. Christian Bruce Reid, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Mr. Edw. Richardson, Summerhill Grove, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Thos. Riddell, esq., Felton Fark. Quarto. 

Mr. George Bouchier Richardson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Jonathan Richardson, esq., Benwell House. 

Thomas Richardson, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

George Rippon, esq., North Shields. 

Thomas Robertson, esq., Alnwick. 

Mr. Thomas Robinson, Collingwood-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Mr. Robert Robinson, Pilgrim street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

William Robson, esq., Paradise, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XV11. 

Mr. Robert Stephen Salmon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Richard Burdon Sanderson, jun., esq.. West Jesmond, Newcastle 
Mr. William Sang, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
John Sang, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Master John Fenwick Schofield, 11, Ellison-place, Newcastle. 
Miss Agnes Percy Schofield, 11, Ellison-place, Newcastle. 
The Rev. T. H. Scott, Canon of Durham, Rector of Whitfield. 
Mr. Hudson Scott, Carlisle. 

J. S. Donaldson Selby, esq., Cheswick House, Northumberland. 
George Selby, esq., Belle Vue, Alnwick. 
Isaac Sheffield, esq., London. 
John Sheffield, esq., Carlisle, 
Thomas Sheffield, esq., Exeter. 

Mr. George Robertson Shield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Charles Roach Smith, esq., F.S.A., Lond., and Scot, Honorary 
Secretary of the Numismatic Society, Liverpool-street, City. 
William George Smith, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
The Rev. George Hunt Smyttan, Charlton Hall, Alnwick. 
S. Reynolds Solly, esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., Serge Hill, Herts. 
Thomas Sopwith, esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., Allenheads, Northd. Quarto. 
Philip Holmes Stanton, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Thomas Stephens, esq., North Shields. 

Robert Stephenson, esq., M.P., F.R.S., London. Quarto. 

James Cochrane Stevenson, esq., South Shields. 
George Waugh Stable, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne Quarto. 

John George Stoker, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Robert Stokoe, esq., Hexham. 

John Storey, esq., F.B.S.E., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

Mr. John Storey, jun., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
R. W. Swan, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

George Tate, esq., F.G.S., Alnwick. 
John Taylor, esq., M.A., Edinburgh. 
Mr. John Thompson, Bloomfield-terrace, Gateshead. 
Thomas Thorp, esq., Alnwick, Northumberland. 
John Thurnam, esq., M.D., London. 
Mr. Charles Thurnam, Carlisle. 
Arthur Trollope, esq., Lincoln. 

Charles Tucker, esq., F.S.A., one of Honorary Secretaries of the 
Archaeological Institute, 26, Suffolk- street, London. 



XV111. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 

W. B. D. D. Turnbull, esq., Sec. Society of Antiquaries, Scotland. 
Mr. Robert Turner, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

IVIr. John Ventress, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

Mr. Robert Vint, Sunderland. 

John Waldie, esq., Hendersyde Park, Kelso. 

Ralph Walters, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Robert W alters, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

James Wardell, esq., Leeds. 

Charles Warne, esq., Milbourne St. Andrews, Blandford, Dorset. 

Mr. Christopher Watson, Marsh House, Easton, Cumberland. 

Joseph Watson, esq., Gresham-place, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Albert Way, esq., M.A., F.S.A., one of the Hon. Secretaries of 

the Archaeological Institute, 26, Suffolk- street, Pall- Mall-East. 
Captain James Dent Weatherley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Thomas Wed dell, esq,, F.R.A.S., Addiscombe. 
Robert M. Weeks, esq., Ryton, Durham. 
Matthew Wheatley, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Mr. Richard Cuthhertson Whinfield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Mr. G. H. Whinfield, Pilgrim- street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Alfred White, esq., Curator and Registrar of the British Archoeo- 

logical Association, Tyndale-place, Islington. 
Rohert White, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The Rev. Robt. Hopper Williamson, Rector of Hurworth, Quarto. 
John Williamson, esq., Glasgow. 
Mr. John Heron Wilson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Daniel Wilson, esq., Hon. Sec. Soc. of Antiquaries, Scotland. 
Mr. David Hamilton Wilson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Quarto. 

Charles Winn, esq., Nostell, Wakefield. Quarto. 

William Woodman, esq., Town-clerk, Morpeth. 
M. Wright, esq., Trinity House, London. 

Thomas Wright, esq., M.A., F.S.A., Corresponding Member of the 
National Institute of France, etc. 24, Sydney- street, Brompton, 



Edgar Garston, K.S., Liverpool. 

Mrs. Grey, Dilston House, Northumberland. 

George Patten, esq., A.R.A., London. 

Mr. William Richardson, 71, Percy-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



CONTENTS 

AND 

LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS 



1. Frontispiece — Pons Mlii restored. 



Page 



The site of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the PONS MhU of the Romans, is here shewn. 
The ground on which it stands, rising abruptly from the bed of the river Tyne, to 
the height of about an hundred feet, is cut into three very remarkable tongues of 
land by four ravines, permeated by as many streams, which all disembogue in the 
Tyne. The easternmost and largest of these tongues of land is that formed by the 
Ouseburn and Pandon-dean ; the smallest by Pandon-dean and the Lort-burn; and 
the westernmost, wheron stands the castle, and formerly the Roman station, 
by the Lort-burn and Skinner-burn. Extensive suburbs probably occupied all these 
eminences. 

2. Title — Modern Buildings on the site of Pons 2Elii. 

The Norman keep of the Castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; the Church of 
St. Nicholas ; and the court-house for the county of Northumberland, built 
upon the site of the south-east corner of the station of PONS ^ELII. 



3. Plan of the course of the Roman Wall 



facing 1 



PART I.— AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN 
OCCUPATION IN BRITAIN. 



4. Initial letter — altar from Corbridge 

5. Coin of Claudius — de britannis 

6. Coin of Vespasian — roma resurges 

7. Coin of Hadrian — adventtjs britannis 

8. Coin of Hadrian — Britannia 

9. Coin of Seyerus — victoria brittanic^i 

10. Coin of Carausius — reverse, a galley 

11. Coin of Carausius — reverse, a lion 

12. Coin of Magnentius — reverse, Christian monogram 

13. Base of column — Housesteads 



1 
4 
6 
11 
12 
19 
22 
22 
24 
42 



XX. CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

TART II.— A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE OF 

THE WALL. 43 



14. Initial Letter — Roman Nails . . . .43 

15. Plan of Lanier between CiLURFUM and Magna — Plan of Cilukvi m 

and contiguous Works — Plans of individual Stations facing 45 

16. Section of Works, near eighteenth mile stone . . 25 

17. Section of Works, west of Carraw . . .52 

18. Mural Slab— Ala II. Astuhoi . . . .61 

19. Altar to Fortune — Coh. I. Batavorum . . .02 

20. Altar to Jupiter — Coh. I. Tcngrorcm . . .63 

21. Written-Rock, on the river Gelt . . . facing 81 

22. Letters on the Written-Rock . . . .82 

23. Form of Wall-Stone . . . . .83 

24. Junction of the west wall of Birdoswald with the Wall . 84 
25-27. Broaching of the Wall-Stones . . .85 
28-31. Marks on the Stones . . . .86 

32. Sections and Elevations of the Masonry of the Wall . facing 89 

33. Herring-bone Masonry . . . .91 

34. Written-Rock at Fallow-field-fell . . .102 



PART III.— LOCAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS. 



103 



35. Initial Letters — Balusters from the Wall 

36. Altar to Jupiter — Coh. IV. Lingonum 

37. Plan of Wallsend, Segedunum ; Section of Mountain an 

Bradley 

38. AVallsend, looking East . 

39. Plan of Poxs ^lii 

40. Mercury, Pons JElii 
41-44. Coins of Hadrian found in the Bridge, Pons iEm 

45. Coin of Seveius found in Bridge, Pons iEm 

46. Slab to the Campestral Mothers 

47. Altar to Mars 

48. Altar to Mars 

49. Fragment of the Wall, near Denton 

50. The Works at Heddon-on-the Wall 

51. The Works near Carr-hill 

52. Mural Slab— Leg. II. Aug. 

53. Slab — FuLorR Diroii 

54. The Wall at Brunton 

55. Remains of Roman Bridge over North Tyne 

The Plan represents the position of each stone now remaining in the river. 
It is the rrsult of a series of observatioas made daring the summer of 1850, by 
.Mr. Robert Elliot, of Wall. Most of the stones have luis-holes. 





103 




109 


id Works at 




facing 


113 


facing 


115 


facing 


126 




120 




131 




131 




140 




142 




143 




145 


facing 


149 


facing 


156 




163 




164 


facing 


169 


facing 


170 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

56. Miscellaneous Antiquities, Chesters, Cilurnum 
57- Vault at Cilurnum 

58. Hypocausts at Cilurnum 

59. Ground Plan of Hypocausts, Cilurnum 

60. River God, Cilurnum 

61. Hypocaust, Cilurntjm 

62. Funereal Slab, Cilurnum 

63. Funereal Slab of Horse Soldier, Cilurnum 

64. Slab — Ala II. Asturum 

65. Statue of Cybele, Cilurntjm 

66. Group of Carved Stones, Ctlurnum 

67. Miscellaneous Antiquities, Cilurnum 

68. Samian Ware 

69. Roman Spears, etc. 

70. The "Works, Tepper-moor 

71. Slab — Coh. I. Batavorum 

72. Approach to Sewingshields 

73. Busy Gap 

74. Junction of West Wall of Housesteads, Borcovicus, with 

75. Ground Plan of Gateway, Housesteads 

76. Outside View of the West Portal, Housesteads 

77. Inside View of West Portal, Housesteads 

78. Housesteads, Borcovicus, from the East 

79. Broken Columns, Borcovicus 

80. Sculptured Figures, Borcovicus 

81. Sculptured Figures, etc. 

82. Figure of Victory 

83. Sepulchral Slab to a young Physician 

84. Slab to Hadrian, Bradley 

85. Slab to Hadrian, Milking-gap 

86. Altar to Fortune, Chesterholm 

87. Hypocaust Pillar 

88. Milestone at Chesterholm, Vindolana 

89. Altar to Genius of the Pretorium 

90. Symbol, Leg. XX. 

91. Part of Slab to Hadrian 

92. Coping-stone, Roman 'broaching, 1 

93. The Crags, West of Craglough 

94. The Wall at Steel-rig 

95. Mural Stone, Leg. XX. V.V. 

96. Mile-castle at Cawfield 

97. Part of Slab to Hadrian 

98. Tablet to Hadrian 

99. Plan of ancient Water-course, Great Chesters, iEsiCA 
100. Nine-nicks of Thirlwall 



facing 



facing 



facing 
facing 
facing 
facing 

facing 

the Wall 



facing 
facing 

facing 
facing 



facing 

facing 
facing 

facing 
facing 



XXI. 

Page 

170 
173 

174 
175 
3 78 
178 
184 
185 
186 
189 
190 
191 
192 
192 
197 
198 
200 
208 
216 
216 
217 
217 
220 
225 
225 
225 
226 
227 
232 
234 
237 
238 
239 
240 
241 
241 
242 
243 
244 
247 
248 
251 
256 
257 
265 



xxu. 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



101. Lamp, Fibula, Shears, and Compasses 

102. Stone Effigy 

103. Section of Works near Wallend 

104. Slab to Hadrian, by Leg. XX. V. V. 

105. Altar to Jupiter, by Coh. I. Ael. Dac. 

106. West Gateway, Birdoswald, Amboglanna 

107. Mural Stone, Leg, VI. V. F. 

108. Birdoswald, western Rampart 

109. Section of Works, Wallbours 

110. Coin of Severus, Julia 

111. Coin of Caracalla 

112. Coin of Geta 

113. Altar to Jupiter, Coh. II. Tungr. 

114. View of Pigeon Crag 

115. Mural Stone, Leg. II. Aug. 

116. Altar — ob res trans vallum prospere gestas 

117. Bowness 

118. Monument to Edward I. 



facing 



facing 



facing 



2G8 
272 
273 
274 
278 
280 
281 
282 
283 
289 
289 
289 
290 
292 
294 
302 
313 
314 



PART IV.— THE SUPPORTING STATIONS OF THE WALL. 315 



119. Initial A, and Mural Slab, Risingham 

120. Tablet, Gykum Cumbas 

121. Tablet found at Jarrow 

122. Corbridge Lanx 

123. Altar to Astarte 

124. Crypt of Hexhani Abbey Church 

125. Slab to Severus at Hexham 

126. Genius of the Wall 

127. Altar to Jupiter for the safety of Severus 

128. Altar to Jupiter, Maryport 

129. Slab to Hadrian, Moresby 

130. Symbol of Leg. XX. 



315 
319 
323 
335 
338 
339 
340 
353 
360 
363 
367 
368 



PART V.— THE QUESTION— WHO BUILT THE WALL ?- 
DISCUSSED, 



131. Initial 0, bronze ornament found at Borcovicus 

132. Slab, Les. II. and Leg. XX. 



369 
392 



PART VI.— MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON THE 

LINE OF THE WALL. 393 



133. Initial M, bronze ornament, an Eagle, found at Magna 

134. Altar, Deo Vetri 



393 
395 



XX111. 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



135. 
136 
137. 
138. 

139. 

140. 

141. 

142 

143. 

144 

145 

146. 

147. 

148 

149. 

150. 

151. 

152. 

153. 

154. 

155. 

156. 

157. 

158. 

159- 

161. 

162. 

163. 

164. 

165. 

166. 

167. 

168. 

169. 

170. 

171. 

172 

225. 

226. 

227. 

228. 

229. 



Large Altar to Jupiter 

Altar, Genio Loci, etc. 

Altar, Deo Cocidio 

Altar, Deo Bet.atucadro 

Altar to Minerva 

Altar to Fortune 

Altar to Mithras 

Altar to the Sun 

Attendant of Mithras 

Altar to Mithras 

Zodiacal Tablet, Borcovictjs 

Pine-apple Ornament, etc., Cilurnttm 

Presumed Mithraic Sculpture, CiLURNrM 

Altar to Apollo, Cawfield mile-castle 

Inscription to the Syrian Goddess, Magna 

Altar to Silranus, Amboglaxxa 

Altar to the Nymphs, Habitaxcoi 

Altar to the Gods of the Mountains, Vindobala 

Altar to Epona, Magna 

Altar, sculptured with a Toad, Ciixrn'UM 

Altar to Viteres, Thirlwall-castle 

Altar to Viteres, Coxdercum 

Altar to the Dea Hamia, Thirlwall-castle 

Altar to the Three Lamiee, Condercum 
60. Egyptian Idols 

Altar to the Transmarine Mothers, Habttaxcttm 

Sculpture to the Dece Matres, at Netherby 

Sculpture to the Dece Matres, at Is etherby 

Sclupture to the Dece Matres, at Netherby 

Sculpture to the Dese Matres, at Nether-hall 

Sepulchral Altar to the Manes of Fabia Honorata, Cilurxum 

Sepulchral Slab to the Manes of Aurelia Faia, Magna 

Sepulchral Slab to the Memory of Cornelius Victor, Vixdolaxa 

Centurial Stone, Coh. V. C-ecilii Proculi, Cilurxoi 

Centurial Stone, Cilurnt::\i 

Vessel, in which the Thorngrafton Coins were found 
224. The Thorngrafton Coins, imperial, consular, and others 



435 



Saurian Ware, from "Wallsend and Lanchester 

Bronze Vessels 

Iron Pot, Bronze Vessel, Tongs, etc. 

Soles of Sandals, etc. 

Tail-piece — Rom^e 2Etern.e Fortune Reduci 



facing 
facing 
facing 
facing 



Pnge 

397 
399 
401 
401 
402 
403 
404 
405 
406 
407 
409 
410 
410 
411 
412 
413 
414 
415 
415 
416 
416 
417 
417 
418 
418 
419 
420 
420 
420 
422 
426 
428 
429 
430 
430 
434 
441 
445 
445 
445 
445 
450 



PLATE J 




%ty &oman Barrier of tf)e 



PART I. 

AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN OCCUPATION IN 
BRITAIN. 

no country of the world are there 
such evident traces of the march 
of Roman legions as in Britain. 
In the northern parts of England 
especially, the footprints of 
the Empire are very distinct. 
Northumberland, as Wallis long 
ago remarked, is Roman ground. 
Every other monument in Bri- 
tain yields in importance to The 
Wall. As this work, in grandeur 
of conception, is worthy of the Mistress of Na- 
tions, so, in durability of structure, is it the 
becoming offspring of the Eternal City. 

A dead wall may seem to most a very unpro- 
mising subject. The stones are indeed inanimate, 
but he who has a head to think, and a heart 




I'LITE 1 




2 EARLIEST NOTICES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 

to feel, will find them suggestive of bright ideas and 
melting sympathies; though dead themselves, they 
will be the cause of mental life in him. A large part 
of the knowledge which we possess of the early his- 
tory of our country has been dug out of the ground. 
The spade and the plough of the rustic have often 
exposed documents, which have revealed the move- 
ments, as well as the modes of thought and feeling, 
of those who have slept in the dust for centuries. 
The casual wanderer by the relics of the Vallum and 
the Wall, may not succeed in culling facts that are 
new to the Historian, but he will probably get those 
vivid glances into Roman character, and acquire that 
personal interest in Roman story, which will give to 
the prosaic records of chroniclers, a reality, and a 
charm, which they did not before possess. 

As a natural introduction to the subject, and as a 
means of preparing for some discussions which are 
to follow, it may be well briefly to trace the progress 
of the Roman arms in Britain, from the arrival of 
Caesar on our shores, to the eventual abandonment 
of the island. 

It is curious to observe, that the curtain of British 
history is raised by some of the earliest and 
greatest of profane writers. Herodotus, who wrote 
about the year B.C. 450, mentions the " Cassiter- 
ides, from which tin is procured"; Aristotle, about 
the year B.C. 340, expressly names the islands of 
Albion and Ierne ; and Polybius, about the year 
B.C. lfiO, makes a distinct reference to the " Britan- 
nic Isles." To Julius Caesar, however, we areindebt- 



THE INVASION OF C^SAR. 3 

ed, for the first detailed account of Britain and its 
inhabitants. On 26 Aug. B. C. 55, that renowned 
conqueror landed in Britain, with a force of about ten 
thousand men. Both on that occasion, and on a 
second attempt, which, with a larger force, he made 
the year following, he met with a warm reception 
from the savage islanders. Tides and tempests 
seconded the efforts of the natives, and great Julius 
bade Britain a final farewell, without erecting any for- 
tress in it, or leaving any troops to secure his con- 
quest. Tacitus says, that he did not conquer Britain, 
but only shewed it to the Romans. Horace, calling 
upon Augustus to achieve the conquest, denominates 
it ' untouched' — 

Intactus aut Britannus ut descenderet 
Sacra catenatus via. 

and Propertius, in the same spirit, describes it as 
' unconquered,' invictus. There is, therefore, little 
exaggeration in the lines of Shakspere — 

A kind of conquest 
Caesar made here ; bat made not here his brag 
Of, came, and saw, and overcame : with shame 
(The first that ever touched him) he was carried 
From off our coast, twice beaten ; and his shipping 
(Poor ignorant baubles !) on our terrible seas, 
Like egg-shells moved upon their surges, cracked 
As easily 'gainst our rocks. 

During the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Cali- 
gula, Britain was unmolested by foreign invasion. 



4 PLAUTIUS AND CLAUDIUS VISIT BRITAIN. 

At the invitation of a discontented Briton, Claudius 
resolved to attempt the reduction of the island. In 
the year of our Lord 43, he sent Aulus Plautius, with 
four legions and their auxiliaries, amounting in all to 
about fifty thousand men, into Britain. It was with 
difficulty that the troops could be induced to en- 
gage in the undertaking. They were unwilling, as 
Dion Cassius informs us, " to engage in a war, as it 
were, out of the world" The fears of the soldiery 
were not without foundation. The Britons, though 
their inferiors in discipline and arms, were not behind 
them in valour and spirit, whilst, in a knowledge of 
the country they had an important advantage. 

The year following, Claudius personally engaged 
in the war. He advanced into the country, as far as 
Camelodunum (Colchester), and after some sanguin- 
ary contests, received the submission of the natives 
in that vicinity. The estimation in which Britain, 
even at this time, was held, was such, that the Senate, 
on learning what he had achieved, surnamed him 
Britannicus, granted him a triumph, and voted him 
annual games. The event was of sufficient im- 
portance, to be celebrated on the current coin of the 
day. Several gold and silver 
pieces have come down to 
our times, bearing on the 
reverse, a triumphal arch, 
on which is inscribed the 
words de britannzs — Over the Britons. This 
is the first occasion on which allusion is made to 
Britain, on the coinage of Rome. 




ITS PARTIAL SUBJUGATION. BOADICEA. 5 

On the return of Claudius, the supreme command 
again devolved upon his lieutenant, Aulus Plautius, 
who succeeded in bringing into complete subjection, 
the tribes occupying the southern portion of the 
island. In this expedition, Vespasian, afterwards 
emperor, acted as second in command to Plautius. 
Titus, the son of Vespasian, accompanied his father. 
Thus was it, in Britain, that the destroyers of Jeru- 
salem were unconsciously trained for inflicting upon 
God's chosen, but sinful people, the chastisements of 
His displeasure. 

Ostorius Scapula, A.D. 50, succeeded to the com- 
mand in Britain. The brave Silures, headed by 
Caractacus, rendered his progress slow and bloody. 
Ostorius at length sank under the harassing nature 
of his duties. 

In the reign of Nero, Roman affairs in Britain 
received a severe check. The Iceni, led on by their 
enraged queen Boadicea, threw off the yoke and 
attacked the principal stations of the enemy. Lon- 
don, which was then an important commercial city, 
fell, upon the first assault, and Verulam (near the 
modern St. Albans) shared the same fate. The British 
warrior-queen sullied the splendour of her exploits 
by her cruelty ; seventy thousand Romans, or ad- 
herents of the government of Rome, fell under her 
hands. Suetonius, the Roman governor, collecting 
his forces, gave battle to the queen and routed her. 
A frightful carnage ensued ; of the amazing number 
of two hundred and thirty thousand men of which 
the British forces are said to have consisted, not less 
than eighty thousand fell. 



6 VESPASIAN ASSUMES THE PURPLE. 

Daring the remainder of the reign of Nero, and 
the short rule of his three successors, Galba, Otho, 
and Vitellius, no advance was made in the conquest 
of Britain. In the strifes of the rival emperors, it 
was however destined to bear its part. Eight thou- 
sand soldiers were drafted from it to fight under the 
banners of Vitellius. Thus early, as Dr. Giles well 
observes, was this island, whose position in the 
bosom of the ocean indicates a peaceful policy, in- 
duced to bear the brunt of continental quarrels. 

When Vespasian assumed the purple, a new era 
dawned upon the empire. This fact is well indicated 
upon a coin struck at this period. In the engrav- 




ing, taken from a specimen found on the Wall, 
the emperor is observed raising a prostrate female 
from the ground (doubtless Rome), whilst Mars 
looks approvingly on ; the inspiring motto " Roma 
Resurges" — Rome thou shalt rise again, — encircles 
the group. ( a ) Vespasian appointed Petilius Cerealis 
his propraetor in Britain, who in five years succeeded 

( a )This coin is in the possession of Mr. Bell, of the Nook, 
Irthington, to whose cabinet of coins, chiefly procured from the 
line of the wall, the author has kindly been allowed free access, 



HIS PROPRIETORS SUBJUGATE THE ISLAND. 7 

in adding the Brigantes, a powerful tribe, to the 
subjects of the empire. Julius Frontinus was his 
successor, who, in the three years of his government, 
nearly subdued the warlike nation of the Silures. 

One hundred and thirty-three years had now 
elapsed since the first descent of Caesar, and thirty- 
five years, since Claudius had claimed the honour of 
conquering Britain, and yet but a fraction of the 
island was in subjection to Roman power. Nothing, 
as Dr. Giles well remarks, can more strongly shew 
the stubborn spirit of the natives, than their pro- 
tracted resistance to the invaders. Battle after battle 
had been lost ; but many of these tribes were still 
unsubdued, and several even undiscovered. 

But the reputation of all preceding governors, was 
obscured by a greater man than they. Cnaeus Ju- 
lius Agricola had served in Britain under some pre- 
ceding commanders ; so that when he landed as 
governor in the year 78 he was prepared to act with 
all the promptitude which a knowledge of the coun- 
try and the people could give him. During the eight 
years of his rule, he subjugated the remaining tribes 
of southern Britain, carried his arms into the north- 
ern section of the island, and drove, in successive 
campaigns, the natives before him, until at length, 
in the battle of the Grampians, he paralyzed their 
strength for a while. He circumnavigated the whole 
island, and planted the Roman standard upon the 
Orkneys. He built walls and fortresses in all places 
where they were required, and softened the fierce- 
ness of the barbarians, by fostering a taste for letters 



8 THE OPERATIONS OF AGRICOLA. 

and the luxuries of the Eternal City. But it is neces- 
sary to trace the movements of Agricola, with some 
of the detail with which they are given in the pages 
of Tacitus. 

The summer of A.D. 78 was far spent when he arrived ; yet 
before going into winter quarters, he attacked and subdued 
the Ordo vices, and brought the sacred isle of Anglesea a 
second time to obedience. The respite from arms which the 
following winter afforded, was employed by the general in the 
most useful and necessary purposes. Being well acquainted with 
the temper of the inhabitants of the province, and having learnt 
from the conduct and experience of others, that what is gained 
by force avails little, where oppressions and grievances follow, 
he determined to put an immediate end to all the causes of the 
war. He began by checking and regulating the affairs of his 
own household, correcting the abuses that had crept into the 
army, promoting impartially those who deserved it ; while at 
the same time he redressed the grievances of the inhabitants, 
made an equitable distribution of the public burthens, and 
abolished all hurtful monopolies. By the prosecution of mea- 
sures so salutary as these, six months had scarcely elapsed, 
when affairs in Britain were entirely changed, and assumed a 
bright and settled aspect. 

His second campaign, that of the year 79, was 
probably occupied in subduing the ancient tenants 
of the Lower Isthmus of the island. 

On the approach of summer, he re-assembled his army, and 
in advancing, failed not to excite a proper spirit of emulation 
among the troops, praising those who best observed their 
several duties, and checking such as were remiss. He him- 
self chose the ground for encamping ; the marshes, friths, and 
difficult places, he always examined first ; and, allowing the 
enemy no respite, he continually harassed them with sudden 



THE OPERATIONS OF AGRICOLA. 9 

incursions and ravages. Having alarmed and terrified them 
sufficiently, he next tried the effect of good usage and the 
allurements of peace. By this wise and prudent conduct, 
several communities, which till then had maintained their in- 
dependence, submitted to the Romans, gave hostages, and 
suffered garrisons and fortresses to be placed among them. 
These strongholds he established with such judgment, as 
effectually secured all those parts of Britain which had then 
been visited by the Romans. 

The following winter was employed in civilizing and polish- 
ing the rude inhabitants, who, living wild and dispersed over the 
country, were thence ever restless and easily instigated to war. 
At first, they were prevailed upon to associate more together, 
and for this end were instructed in the art of building houses, 
temples, and places of public resort. The sons of their chiefs 
were taught the liberal sciences ; hence it was no unusual 
thing to see those who lately scorned the Roman language, 
become admirers of its eloquence. By degrees, the customs, 
manners, and dress of their conquerors, became familiar to 
them, they acquired a taste for a life of inactivity and 
ease, and at length were caught by the charms and incite- 
ments of luxury and vice. By such as judged of things from 
their external appearance only, all this was styled politeness 
and humanity, while, in reality, Agricola was effectually en- 
slaving them, and imperceptibly rivetting their chains. 

During the third year of his command, he pushed his 
conquests northwards, and carried his devastations as far 
as the mouth of the Tay (Taus.) Here, the enemy were 
struck with so much terror, that they durst not attack 
the Roman army, though it was greatly distressed by the 
severities of the climate. Agricola, in order to secure 
possession of these advanced conquests, again erected forts 
in the most commodious situations; and so judiciously was 
this done, that none of them were ever taken by force, aban- 
doned through fear, or given up on terms of capitulation. 
Each fort defended itself, and, against any long siege, was con- 
stantly supplied with provisions for a year. Thus the seve- 



10 AGRICOLA IS RECALLED. 

ral garrisons not only passed the winter in perfect security, 
but were likewise enabled, from these strongholds, to make 
frequent excursions against the enemy, who could not, as here- 
tofore, repair the losses they had sustained in summer, by the 
successes usually attending their winter expeditions. 

The forts here referred to, are probably those, 
which were drawn along the Upper Isthmus of the 
island, extending from the Firth of Forth to the 
Firth of Clyde, and which were afterwards connect- 
ed by the wall of Antoninus Pius. 

This is rendered apparent from what follows : — 

Agricola employed the fourth summer (A.D. 81) in settling 
and further securing the country he had subdued. Here, had 
it been compatible with the bravery of the army, or if the 
glory of the Roman name would have permitted it, there 
had been found a boundary to their conquests in Britain; 
for the tide, entering from opposite seas, and flowing far into 
the country by the rivers Glotta and Bodotria, their heads 
are only separated by a narrow neck of land, which was occu- 
pied by garrisons. Of all on this side, the Romans were al- 
ready masters, the enemy being driven, as it were, into another 
island. 

It is not necessary to pursue the operations of 
Agricola further. In the seventh summer he de- 
feated Galgacus on the flanks of the Grampians. 
The Roman power was now at its height. Agricola, 
probably from motives of jealousy, was recalled by 
the emperor Domitian, and as his successors were 
not men of the same vigour as himself, the barbar- 
ians were in a condition, at least to dispute the pre- 
tensions of their conquerors. 



HADRIAN ARRIVES IN BRITAIN. 



11 



In the year J 20— thirty-five years after the recall 
of Agricola — affairs in Britain had fallen into such 
confusion, as to require the presence of the emperor 
Hadrian, who had assumed the imperial purple three 
years before. He did not attempt to regain the con- 
quests which Agricola had made in Scotland, but 
prudently sought to make the line of forts, which 
that general had constructed in his second campaign, 
the limit of his empire. With this object in view, he 
drew a wall across the island — the Barrier of the 
Lower Isthmus. The testimony of Spartian, the his- 
torian of his reign, though brief, is decisive. Hadrian, 
says he, visited Britain, when he corrected many 
things, and first drew a wall (murus) eighty miles 
in length, to divide the barbarians from the Romans. 

The arrival in Britain, of Hadrian, one of Rome's 
greatest generals, was thought an event of suffi- 
cient importance to be commemorated in the cur- 




rency of the empire. The large brass coin, here 
represented, was struck by decree of the Senate in 
the year 121.* 



b This interesting coin is thus described by Akerman: — 
Obverse — hadrianus . AVGustus, consul III. [tertium] pater 
Patrice. Laureated bust of Hadrian, with the chlamys buckled 



12 THE BARRIER OF THE UPPER ISTHMUS. 

The plans and the prowess of the emperor were 
thought to have effectually secured those portions 
of the island, which it was prudent to retain in 
the grasp of Rome. This circumstance was an- 
nounced to the world in another coin, bearing, on the 




reverse, a name destined to sound through regions 
Hadrian never knew — Britannia — and representing 
a female figure seated on a rock, having a spear in 
her left hand, and a shield by her side/ 

About twenty years after Hadrian's expedition, 
Lollius Urbicus took the command in Britain. He 
was not satisfied with the limits which Hadrian had 
prudently assigned to the empire in Britain. Forc- 
ing back the Britons, he raised an earthen rampart 
across the isthmus between the Forth and the Clyde. 

over his right shoulder. Reverse — adventvs avgusH britaxmae. 
In the exergue — senatus consulto. An altar, with the fire kindled, 
placed between the emperor in his toga, who holds a patera, and a 
female figure, a victim lying at her feet. 

c Numismatists differ as to the appropriation of the female. The 
same figure in other coins of this reign being used to personify 
Rome, it probably does so in this case ; and represents the secure 
possession obtained by the Eternal City, of Albion's rocky shore. 
However this may be, the same figure has been placed by many 
successive generations of mint-masters on the reverse of the copper 
coinage of Great Britain. Britain in this still bows to Rome ! 



DECLINE OF THE ROMAN POWER. 13 

Graham's Dike, in Scotland, is the wall which was 
built by Lollius Urbicus. This is proved by the nu- 
merous sculptures which have, at different times, 
been discovered among its ruins. 

The remaining history of the Romans, on the 
northern frontier of England, is fraught with disaster. 
The tide of war sometimes broke upon the northern, 
and sometimes on the southern boundary ; but its roar 
and its devastation ceased not, until the Roman in- 
truder had been driven altogether from the island — 
or, rather, until the successive strifes of Romans and 
Picts, Normans and Saxons, Border reavers and 
Scottish troopers, had been hushed, under the vigor- 
ous rule of the last of the Tudors. What Hadrian 
could not do, for the inhabitants of the North of Eng- 
land ; what Severus failed to accomplish ; what the 
great Alfred — the Norman oppressor — the Plantage- 
nets — the despotic Henry VIII., attempted in vain, 
was accomplished under what John Knox calls ' the 
monstrous regiment of a woman.' Then, a ' bright 
occidental star' beamed upon these Northern Parts, 
and Law began to assert its supremacy. 

Marcus Antoninus, who succeeded Antoninus 
Pius, was far from enjoying the tranquillity which the 
northern rampart was expected to give. He was 
obliged to carry on very troublesome wars with the 
Britons, and with much difficulty kept them in check. 

In the reign of Commodus, who became sole 
emperor A.D. 180, the Britons, as we are told by 
Xiphiline, who abridged the history of Dion, broke 
through the wall which separated them from the 



14 THE BRITONS PREVAIL. 

Roman province, killed the general, ruined the army, 
and, in their ravages, carried everything before them. 
Thejvall referred to, was probably that of the Lower 
Isthmus; for, as Horsley conjectures, "the Caledo- 
nians had broken through the wall of Antoninus Pius 
not long after it was erected," and certain it is, " that 
we meet with no inscriptions on the wall of Antoninus 
but what belong to his reign." 

The circumstance, that the loathsome and ferocious 
Commodus assumed the title of Britannicus, is no 
proof that success attended his arms. He was the 
first person who had ascribed to him the conjoined 
titles of Pius and Felix ; but, as Lampridius sa- 
tirically observes, " When he had appointed the 
adulterer of his mother a consul, he was called Pius ; 
when he had slain Perennis, he was called Felix; and 
when the Britons were ready to choose another em- 
peror, he was flattered with the title of Britannicus." 

During the time that Septimius Severus, Pescen- 
nius Niger, and Clodius Albinus contended with each 
other for the empire, the northern Britons were 
held feebly in check. At length, A.D. 197, Severus 
prevailed, and became sole master of the world. 
Virius Lupus became his propraetor in Britain. 
Unable to resist the attacks of the Caledonians in 
the field, and having in vain attempted to purchase 
their submission with money, his lieutenant sent 
hasty letters to the emperor, entreating succour, 
and, if possible, his presence. 

It is stated by Richard of Cirencester, that about 
this time the Picts, a tribe to which reference will 



THE ARRIVAL OF SEVERUS. 15 

presently be made, first landed in Scotland. The ex- 
traordinary successes, as Dr. Giles remarks, which 
the Caledonians gained, prior to the arrival of Severus, 
confirm the supposition that they received consider- 
able reinforcements from abroad. 

Severus came at the call of his lieutenant. Both 
Herodian and Xiphiline give us an account of the 
proceedings of this renowned emperor in Britain, 
and as their narratives are not only interesting in 
themselves, but important in the investigation of 
some subsequent questions, it will be well to 
avail ourselves of their statements. Herodian 
says — 

Whilst Severus was under a mighty concern about the 
conduct of his two sons, he received letters from the governor 
of Britain, informing him of the insurrections and inroads of 
the barbarians, and the havoc they made far and near, and 
begging, either a greater force, or that the emperor would 
come over himself. Severus, for several reasons, was pleased 
with the news, and, notwithstanding his age and infirmity, 
resolved to go over in person. And though, by reason of the 
gout upon him, he was forced to be carried in a litter, yet, he 
entered upon the journey with a juvenile briskness and cour- 
age, and performed it with great expedition. He quickly 
crossed the sea, and as soon as he came upon the island, hav- 
ing gathered a very great force together, he made ready for 
war. The Britons, being alarmed and terrified, would fain 
have excused themselves, and treated about peace. But 
Severus, unwilling to lose his labour, or to miss the glory of 
being called Britannicus, dismissed their ambassadors, and 
carried on his military preparations. Particularly, he took 
care to make bridges or causeys through the marshes, 
that the soldiers might travel and fight upon dry 
ground. 



16 THE OPERATIONS OF SEVERUS. 

Herodian next gives a short description of the 
inhabitants, and says that — 

Many parts of Britain were become fenny, by the frequent 
inundations of the sea. The natives swim through those 
fens, or run through them up to the waist in mud ; for, 
the greatest part of their bodies being naked, they re- 
gard not the dirt. They wear iron about their necks and 
bellies, esteeming this as fine and rich an ornament as 
others do gold. They make upon their bodies the figures 
of divers animals, and use no clothing, that they may 
be exposed to view. They are a very bloody and warlike 
people, using a little shield or target, and a spear. Their 
sword hangs on their naked bodies. They know not the use 
of a breastplate and helmet, and imagine these would be an 
impediment to them in passing the fens. The air is always 
thick with the vapours that ascend from these marshes." 

The historian proceeds with his story — 

Severus provided everything which might be of service to his 
own people, and distress the enemy. And when all things were 
in sufficient readiness, he left Geta, in that part of the island 
which was subject to the Romans, to administer justice and 
manage civil affairs, appointing some elderly friends to be his 
assistants. His son Antoninus, better known by the name 
of Oaracalla, he took with him when he marched against the 
barbarians. The Roman army passing the rivers and 
trenches, which were the boundaries of the empire, skir- 
mished often in a tumultuous manner with the barbarians, 
and as often put them to flight. But it was easy for 
them to escape and to hide themselves in the woods and fens, 
being well acquainted with the country, whereas the Romans 
laboured under the opposite disadvantages. By these means 
the war was prolonged. Severus, being old and infirm, and 
confined at home, would have committed the management of 
the war to his son Antoninus. But he, neglecting the barba- 
rians, endeavoured to gain the Roman army, with a view to 
the empire. During his father's lingering sickness he endea- 



THE NARRATIVE OF DION CASSIUS. 17 

voured to prevail with the physicians and servants to despatch 
him. At last Severus died, worn out with sorrow, more than 
disease. 

It will be observed, that in this detailed account 
of the proceedings of Severus in Britain, not the 
least allusion is made to the construction of a wall. 

Dion Cassius was contemporary with Severus. 
That portion of his work which narrates the trans- 
actions of this emperor in Britain, is unfortunately 
lost, but an epitome of it, prepared by Xiphiline, re- 
mains. From this abridgment the following ex- 
tracts are taken. 

Severus, observing that his two sons were abandoned to 
their pleasures, and that the soldiers neglected their exercises, 
undertook an expedition against Britain, though he was per- 
suaded, from his horoscope, that he never should return from 
thence to Italy. Nor did he ever return from this expedition, 
but died three years after he first set out from Home. He got 
a prodigious mass of riches in Britain. The two most con- 
siderable bodies of the people in that island, and to which al- 
most all the rest relate, are the Caledonians and the Mseatae. 
The latter dwell near the barrier wall which separates the 
island into two parts ; the others live beyond them. Both 
of them inhabit barren uncultivated mountains, or desert 
marshy plains, where they have neither walls nor towns, nor 
manured lands, but feed upon the milk of their flocks, upon 
what they get by hunting, and some wild fruits. 

The mode in which he speaks of the Wall, in this 
passage, implies its existence at the time of the ar- 
rival of Severus. The historian, after giving an in- 
teresting account of the manners of the inhabitants, 
proceeds : — 

We are masters of little less than half the island. Severus, 
having undertaken to reduce the whole under his subjection, 

D 



18 THE DEATH OF SEVERUS. 

entered into Caledonia,, where he had endless fatigues to sus- 
tain, forests to cut down, mountains to level, morasses to dry 
up, and bridges to build. He had no battle to fight, and saw 
no enemies in a body; instead of appearing, they exposed their 
flocks of sheep and oxen, with design to surprise our soldiers 
that should straggle from the army for the sake of plunder. 
The waters, too, extremely incommoded our troops, insomuch 
that some of our soldiers being able to march no farther, beg- 
ged of their companions to kill them, that they might not fall 
alive into their enemies"' hands. In a word, Severus lost fifty 
thousand men there, and yet quitted not his enterprise. He 
went to the extremity of the island, where he observed very ex- 
actly the course of the sun in those parts, and the length of 
the days and nights both in summer and winter. He was 
carried all over the island in a close chair, by reason of his in- 
firmities, and made a treaty with the inhabitants, by which he 
obliged them to relinquish part of their country to him. 

The peace thus purchased, by the cession of the 
northern portion of the island, was badly observed. 
The inhabitants having taken up arms, contrary to 
the faith of treaties, Severus commanded his soldiers 
to enter their country, and to put all they met to the 
sword. He is said to have signified his savage in- 
tention, by quoting, from Homer, the lines which 
Cowper thus translates : 

Die the race ! 
May none escape us ! neither he who flies, 
Nor even the infant in the mother's womb 
Unconscious. 

But in the midst of his enterprise he was taken off 
by a distemper, to which, it was said, Antoninus, by 
his undutiful conduct, had very much contributed. 
He died at York, Feb. 4th, A.D. 211. 



THE RECORDS OF HIS VICTORIES. 



19 



The coins of Severus record his victories. One 
of them is represented beneath. On the obverse 




is the laureated head of the ferocious African 
— on the reverse are two winged victories, attach- 
ing a buckler to a palm tree, at the foot of which 
two captives mournfully sit. The legend, vic- 
toriae brittannicae, declares who these captives 
are. Times are changed ! wide as ocean rolls, 
the burden of Britannia's song exultingly declares, 
' Britons never will be slaves,' — and, better still, 
Britain has long been actively engaged in rescuing 
from chains the sable sons of that continent in which 
Severus first drew breath. 

Another curious record of the wars of Severus is 
found in the poems of Ossian. The Caracul, son 
of the ' King of the World,' in the dramatic piece 
' Comala,' is supposed to be Caracalla. 

Dersagrena. These are the signs of Fingal's death. The 
King of shields is fallen ! and Caracul prevails. 

Comala. Ruin overtake thee, thou king of the world ! 
Few be thy steps to the grave; and let one a irgin mourn thee ! 

Melicoma. What sound is that on Ardven ? Who comes 
like the strength of rivers, when their crowded waters glitter 
to the moon ? 



/ 



20 BRITAIN REVOLTS. 

Comala. Who is it but tlio foe of Comala, the son of 
the king of the world ! Ghost of Fingal ! do thou from thy 
cloud, direct Comala's bow. . . 

Fingal. Raise ye bards, the song ! Caracul has fled 
from our arms along the fields of his "pride. 

After the death of Severus, a long period elapsed, 
in which the Roman historians observe a profound 
silence respecting the affairs of Britain. Local re- 
cords and native historians supply but feebly the 
deficiency. During the reign of Gallienus, which 
extended from A.D. 260 to 268, a large number of 
usurpers arose, who are commonly denominated the 
Thirty Tyrants. Of these Lollianus, Victorianus, 
Postumus, the two Tetrici, and Marius, are sup- 
posed to have assumed the sovereignty in this is- 
land; for their coins have been dug up more abun- 
dantly here than elsewhere. 

Diocletian commenced his reign in the year 284. 
Though he was a man of energy and ability, the 
care of a crumbling empire was too much for him, 
and he divided his honours and anxieties with Max- 
imian. Increasing perplexities a few years after- 
wards induced the emperors to appoint two Caesars. 
Diocletian chose Galerius Maximianus, and Max- 
imian nominated Constantius Chlorus. To Con- 
stantius was assigned the charge of Britain, where 
he eventually found a grave. He was the father of 
Constantine the Great. 

During a portion of the united reign of Diocletian 
and Maximian, Britain assumed an independent po- 
sition. In order to repress, in the northern seas, the 



CARAUSIUS ATTAINS THE SOVEREIGNTY. 21 

ravages of the Franks and Saxons, who about this 
period began to demand a place in the world's his- 
tory, Carausius was appointed to the command of 
1 the channel fleet/ Gesoriacum, the modern Bou- 
logne, was his place of rendezvous. Carausius, who 
was an expert seaman, exerted himself, at first, with 
extraordinary success, against the pirates. After- 
wards, it was observed that he consulted his own 
interest, rather than the public service. The em- 
perors resolved upon his destruction. Carausius, 
stimulated by self-preservation, as well as ambition, 
entered into an alliance with his former foes, the 
Franks and Saxons, and declared himself emperor 
of Britain. He was favourably received by the na- 
tives of the island, and for seven years wielded the 
sovereignty of his empire with vigour and ability. 
He repelled the Maeatee and the Caledonians, and 
having subdued these tribes, attached them to his 
interest. Nothing, observes Mr. Thackeray, can 
more fully prove the maritime strength and re- 
sources of Great Britain, under an able ruler, than 
the fact, that Carausius for seven years bade defiance 
to the Roman power ; and at the end of that time 
fell, not overcome by the imperial forces, but by 
private treachery. Never before, nor until several 
hundred years after this period, was the country 
firmly united under the government of one sovereign. 
Constantius was preparing to invade Britain with 
a fleet of a thousand ships, when Carausius was 
murdered by Allectus, whom he had trusted as his 



22 



THE SUCCESSES OF CARAl SIUS. 



dearest friend. For about three years the assassin 
held, though with a less firm grasp, the power for- 
merly possessed by his victim. 

A very numerous suite of coins commemorates 
the successes of Carausius, and vindicates his claim 
to a share in the empire of the world. Two coins 
are represented here. On the reverse of one is 




a galley, which indicates the chief source of his 
strength, and on the reverse of the other is a lion 
with a thunderbolt in its mouth, significative, not 
only of the bold bearing which the ancient sea-king 
assumed, but of that which his successors in modern 
times have maintained. 

Carausius, according to Macpherson, is the Caros 
of Ossian. The following extract, upon this sup- 
position, contains a remarkable allusion to the Wall. 

Who comes towards my son, with the murmur of a song ! 
His staff is in his hand, his grey hair loose on the wind. 
Surly joy lightens his face. He often looks back to Caros. 

It is Kyno of Songs, he that went to view the foe. "What 
does Caros, King of ships?' 1 said the son of the now mourn- 
ful Ossian ; " spreads he the wings of his pride, d bard of the 
times of old ?" 

" He spreads them, Oscar," replied the bard " but it is 
behind his gathered heap. He looks over his stones with 
fear. He beholds thee terrible, as the ghost of night, that 
rolls the wave to his ships V* 

d The Roman Eagle. 



BRITAIN UNDER DIOCLETIAN AND SUCCESSORS. 23 

It would be improper to leave the reign of Dio- 
cletian without remarking, that under it, the church 
of Christ endured the last and most terrible of the 
ten persecutions, which pagan Rome inflicted upon 
the followers of the cross. Britain did not escape. 
Alban and many others, as Gildas and Bede inform 
us, were martyrs for the faith. 

On the withdrawal, in the year 305, of Diocletian 
and Maximian from the cares of empire, Galerius 
and Constantius became the rulers of the world. 

Constantine, afterwards surnamed the Great, was 
proclaimed emperor, on the death of his father Con- 
stantius, at York. After a protracted struggle with 
several rivals, he became, A.D. 313, sole possessor 
of the imperial power. He was the first Christian 
Emperor, and, in token of his faith, inscribed the 
monogram of the Redeemer upon his banner, and 
his coin. The circumstances under which he adopt- 
ed this step are thus detailed — 

Constantine was in Gaul, and having heard of the opposi- 
tion of his rival, who was in possession of Rome, he immedi- 
ately crossed the Alps, and proceeded against him. When 
near Verona, on his march, and meditating the difficulties of 
his situation, he was roused from deep thought by a bright 
light, which suddenly illumined the sky, and, looking up, he saw 
the sun, which was in its meridian, surmounted by a cross of 
fire, and beneath it this inscription, tovtio viko. — " in this 
conquer. 1 ' He immediately adopted the cross as his en- 
sign, and formed on the spot the celebrated Labarum, or 
Christian standard, which was ever after substituted for the 
Roman eagle. This, a3 Eusebius describes it, was a spear 
crossed by an arrow, on which was suspended a velum, having 
inscribed on it the monogram, a^ formed by the Greek letters 



24 



BRITAIN OVER-RUN BY THE PICTS. 



CM and Bho, the initials of the name of Christ. Under this 
he marched forward, and rapidly triumphed over all his 
enemies ; and, struck with the preternatural warning he had 
received, and its consequences, he now publicly embraced the 
doctrines of that religion under whose banner he had conquered. 6 

The monogram is well displayed on the reverse of 
a coin of Magnentius/ which is here represented. The 




Alpha and Omega, which accompany the symbol, in- 
dicate the faith of the emperor in the divinity of 
Christ — ' the beginning and the ending, which is, 
and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.' 

Constantine removed the imperial seat from Rome 
to Constantinople. 

During the life-time of Constantine, Britain par- 
took of the civil tranquillity of the rest of the world ; 
but in the reign of his immediate successors, the 
Picts and Scots renewed their incursions into the 
lower province. This was not the only evil which 
Roman Britain had to endure. Magnentius, a 
native of the isle, entered into a contest with Con- 
stantius II. for the empire of the world, and in sup- 
port of his claims, collected an army, (chiefly drawn 
from Britain) with which he three times met his 
foe. On the death of Magnentius, by his own 
hands, in the year 353, his successful rival inflicted 

e Walsh on Coins. 
^ In the collection of Geo. Rippon, Esq., North Shields. 



THEODOSIUS REPAIRS THE WALL. 25 

a bloody revenge upon the Britons for having sup- 
ported their countryman: meanwhile the Picts and 
Scots harassed them, on the north, with redoubled fury. 

Little is recorded of Britain in the reign of Julian 
the Apostate. In the time of Jovian his successor, 
the Picts, Saxons, and Scots, vexed it by increasing 
calamities. Valentinian obtained the purple A.D. 
364, when the state of the country was so alarming 
as to require immediate attention. Even London 
seems to have been menaced by the enemy, if it was 
not actually in their hands. Theodosius, the ablest 
general of his time, went to the assistance of the 
Britons, drove the enemy before him, and recovered 
the provincial cities and forts. He then repaired the 
cities and prcetenturce and erected some new forts. 
Horsley thinks that the Wall in the North of England, 
and the stations upon it, are the prcetenturce referred to. 

Valentinian, having, in 367, united with himself 
in the government of the empire, Gratian his son, 
died, A.D. 375. Six days afterwards, his second 
son, Valentinian II. was proclaimed his successor. 
The two brothers reigned together, Theodosius the 
Great presiding at the same time in the Eastern 
provinces, until Gratian was killed A.D. 383. Four 
years afterwards, Valentinian was robbed of the 
purple by Maximus, but applied for assistance to 
his eastern colleague, Theodosius, and once more 
entered Rome with imperial dignity. The sove- 
reignty of Britain, Gaul, and Spain was, however, 
still conceded, for the present, to Maximus, who 
adopted Treves as the seat of his government. 

E 



26 THE ISLAND DRAINED OF ITS YOUTH. 

In this struggle Britain suffered severely. Maxi- 
mus, having served in the island under the elder 
Theodosius, was a favourite with the Romanized 
Britons. They flocked to his standard in such 
numbers that the island seemed drained of its youth. 
More than a hundred thousand persons are said to 
have accompanied him from Britain to the continent. 

The loss of the native soldiery was severely felt 
in the North of England, where the ruthless barba- 
rians renewed their ravages without molestation. 
The whole island, in the querulous language of its 
first historian, Gildas/ " Deprived of all her armed 
soldiers and military bands, was left to her cruel ty- 
rants, deprived of the assistance of all her youth 
who went with Maximus, and ignorant of the art of 
war, she groaned in amazement for many years under 
the cruelty of the Picts and Scots." 

Theodosius died A.D. 395. He left his dominions 
to his sons Arcadius and Honorius, who permanent- 
ly divided them into the empires of the East and 
West. In the early part of the reign of Honorius, 
the province of Britain, by the prudence of the em- 

9 Historians differ as to the degree of credibility due to this author. 
Mr. Wright, in his Biographia Britannica Literaria, says that his 
is ( a name of very doubtful authority.' Sharon Turner thinks 
that * as far as he can be supported, and made intelligible, by 
others, he is an acceptable companion, but that he cannot be 
trusted alone ;' and Mr. Stevenson, in the preface to his edition of 
the original Latin of Gildas, writes ' We are unable to speak with 
certainty as to his parentage, his country, or even his name, the 
period when he lived, or the works of which he was the author.' 
Thus much, however, is certain, that he lived before the time of 
Bede, and is quoted by him. 



BRITAIN BECOMES INDEPENDENT. 27 

peror's minister Stilicho, had comparative rest from 
the incursions of the enemy. But when the Gothic 
war diverted the attention of the government from 
so remote a province, and the legions of Britain 
were called away to defend the seat of the empire 
from the attacks of Alaric, the troubles which be- 
fore distracted the province, were again called into 
fearful operation. A spirit of disaffection and revolt 
increased the evil. Marcus and Gratian were suc- 
cessively declared emperors by the islanders, but 
were both speedily murdered. Constantine was 
next raised to the sovereignty, an honour for which 
he was indebted to his name, not his rank or fitness 
for the office. Instead of endeavouring to secure 
the peace of Britain, he transported his army to 
Gaul and made a successful stand against Honorius. 
He was assassinated in the year 411. 

Whilst Honorius was struggling with the usurper 
Constantine, he wrote letters to the cities of Britain, 
conceding the independence of the island, and ur- 
ging them to adopt measures for their own govern- 
ment and protection. The gift of liberty was to 
them a fatal boon. Their implacable enemies, find- 
ing that the military science of the Romans no longer 
protected the south, rushed forth to invade the un- 
defended province. The natives, in despair, turned 
to the still powerful name of Rome, and dispatched 
messengers to entreat help from the emperor. — 
But let Gildas ' the wise/ depict the closing scene of 
ancient Britain's history — 

The Britons, impatient at the assaults of their enemies, 
send ambassadors to Rome, entreating, in piteous terms, the 



28 THE NARRATIVE OF GILDAS. 

assistance of an armed band to protect them. A legion is 
immediately sent, provided sufficiently with arms. When 
they had crossed over the sea, and landed, they came at once 
to close conflict with their enemies, and slew great numbers 
of them. All of them were driven beyond the borders, and 
the humiliated natives rescued from the bloody slavery which 
awaited them. By the advice of their protectors, they now 
built a wall across the island, from one sea to the other, which, 
being manned with a proper force, might be a terror to the 
foes whom it. was intended to repel, and a protection to their 
friends whom it covered. But this wall being made of turf, 
instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people, who had 
no head to guide them. 

The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and 
triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and ravening 
wolves, rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold, winch is left 
without a shepherd, are wafted, both by the strength of oarsmen 
and the blowing wind, break through the boundaries, and 
spread slaughter on every side. 

And now again they send suppliant ambassadors, with their 
garments rent, and their heads covered with ashes, imploring 
assistance from the Romans, like timorous chickens crowding 
under the protecting wings of their parents. Upon this, the 
Romans, moved with compassion, send forward, like eagles in 
their flight, their bands of cavalry and mariners, and plant- 
ing their terrible swords upon the shoulders of their enemies, 
mow them down like leaves which fall at their destined period. 
Having driven their enemies beyond the sea, the Romans left 
the country, giving them notice, that they could no longer be 
harassed by such laborious expeditions, but that the islanders, 
inuring themselves to warlike weapons, should valiantly pro- 
tect their country, their property, their wives, and children ; 
that they should not suffer their hands to be tied behind their 
backs, by a nation, which, unless they were enervated by idle- 
ness and sloth, was not more powerful than themselves, but 
that they should arm those hands with buckler, sword, and 
spear, ready for the field of battle ; and, because they thought 
this also of advantage to the people they were about to leave, 



THE DISTRESSES OF THE BRITONS. 29 

they, with the help of the miserable natives, built a wall, 
different from the former, by public and private contributions, 
xnd of the same structure as walls generally are, extending 
in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities, which, 
from fear of their enemies, had then by chance been built. 
No sooner were they gone, than the Picts and Scots, like 
worms, which in the heat of mid-day, come forth from their 
holes, hastily land from their canoes, differing one from 
another in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for 
blood, and all, more eager to shroud their villainous faces in 
bushy hair, than to cover with decent clothing those parts of 
their body which required it. Moreover, having heard of the 
departure of our friends, and their resolution never to return, 
they seized, with greater boldness than before, on all the coun- 
try towards the extreme north, as far as the Wall. To oppose 
them, there was placed on the heights, a garrison, equally 
slow to fight, and ill adapted to run away, a useless and 
panic-struck company, which slumbered away days and nights 
on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked weapons 
of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen 
were dragged from the Wall, and dashed against the ground. 
Such premature death, however, painful as it was, saved them 
from seeing the miserable sufferings of their brothers and 
children. But why should I say more I They left their cities, 
abandoned the protection of the Wall, and dispersed them- 
selves in flight more desperately than before. 

Whilst the enemy butchered them like sheep, they 
increased their own miseries by domestic feuds — 

They turned their arms upon each other, and for the sake 
of a little sustenance, imbrued their hands in the blood of 
their fellow countrymen. 

Again, in their distress, they applied to the Romans. 
In the address, entitled ' The Groans of the Britons/ 
our author represents them as saying : — 

The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea throws us back 
on the barbarians : thus two modes of death await us, we are 
either slain or drowned. 



30 THE WALL NOT THE WORK OF ROME'S DECLINE. 

The Romans could not assist them, and, unwilling 
to assist themselves, they sought and obtained the 
help of those l wolves', as Gildas calls them, the 
fierce and impious Saxons. The result is known 
to all — Celtic Britain became Saxon England — and 
England, with all its faults, — has it not been a blessing 
to the world ? 

The picture drawn by Gildas of the misery of the 
southern Britons, and of the ravages of the northern 
barbarians, is doubtless correct ; but, in ascribing 
the erection of the earthen rampart, and the stone 
wall of the Lower Barrier to the period of the de- 
parture of the Romans, he probably leans upon the 
erring traditions of his own times. His statement 
is devoid of probability. A work so bold in its de- 
sign, so skilfully planned, and involving so much 
labour in its execution, cannot have been the result 
of the expiring energies of Rome in Britain. Its 
very ruins bespeak the masculine vigour of Rome's 
maturity. 

Besides, if we receive the testimony of Gildas 
upon this point, we must either suppose that several 
walls have been drawn across the island, or we 
must reject the assertions of those classical writers 
who ascribe the works to Hadrian or Severus. The 
former supposition cannot be maintained, for we 
meet with no traces of more than one earthen val- 
lum, and one stone wall, in the region in question ; 
and with reference to the latter alternative, it is more 
likely that Gildas should err in his dates, than that 
Dion Cassius, and Herodian, and Spartian, should 



THE BRITONS SUPINE IN YIELDING TO THE PICTS. 31 

describe, as existing in their day, that which was not 
to be for centuries. 

Another question will arise in the mind of the 
thoughtful reader ; — how was it that the Britons suf- 
fered themselves to become so easy a prey to the 
Picts and Scots ? Roman civilization could not, 
greatly at least, have enervated them. The culti- 
vation of the liberal arts removes from the minds 
and manners of men their unsightly asperities, but it 
brings out in bolder relief their more valuable quali- 
ties. The vices of the Romans, when grafted upon 
the previously polluted life of the Britons, would 
indeed have a tendency to unman them, but why 
should it have sunk them beneath the level of the 
Romans themselves ? We do not find, moreover, that 
the Britons who fought in foreign parts were de- 
ficient in courage. 

An acquaintance with Roman discipline, a know- 
ledge of the Roman art of war, ought to have given 
them great advantages over their less civilized neigh- 
bours on the north of the Wall, and enabled them 
easily to have retained that great structure as a 
boundary fence. It is true that great numbers of 
their youth had from time to time been drafted off 
by successive emperors, to engage in foreign quarrels, 

h This point is well put by Sir Francis Palgrave, in his History 
of the Anglo-Saxons. ' The walls of the cities fortified by the 
Romans were yet strong and firm. The tactics of the legions 
were not forgotten. Bright armour was piled in the storehouses, 
and the serried line of spears might have been presented to the 
half-naked Scots and Picts, who could never have prevailed against 
their opponents.' 



32 THE BRITONS HAD BREATHING-TIME. 

and that thtis the land was deprived of its natural de- 
fenders. This accounts for a part of their distress, 
but not all. In a rude state of society, every man 
is a soldier, and it was an essential part of the policy 
of Rome to inure every citizen to the practice of arms. 
There surely would be men enough left to defend their 
homes, their liberties, and lives ! Besides, half a cen- 
tury elapsed between the time when the Romans began 
to leave Britain to its own resources, and their final 
refusal of all succour. There was thus time enough 
to have nurtured a whole generation of veterans ; 
and there was time enough — if the energy had been 
in them — to have shaken off those feelings of de- 
pendence upon Rome, which the presence of their 
conquerors had fostered. The opportunity, however, 
was lost ; they entreated, and wept, and groaned — 
and passed off the stage of this world's history. How 
are we adequately to account for this circumstance ? 
This is not the place to discuss the genealogy of the 
Picts, but if we adopt the theory of their Germanic 
origin/ the enigma, if not made quite plain, will ap- 

t The supposition is not destitute of support. The migratory 
tendencies of the Gothic tribes have always been conspicuous. 
From the earliest periods of our history, the inhabitants of Jut- 
land and its neighbouring provinces were in the habit of making 
descents upon the coasts of Britain. After the departure of the 
Romans, their attempts were probably more bold and frequent, 
but they did not then, for the first time, commence. The Norfolk 
and Suffolk coast was, from its position, peculiarly exposed to these 
incursions, and as early as the close of the third century, was 
placed under the command of a military Count called Comes litoris 
Saxonici. This district was called 'the Saxon shore,' as Sir Francis 
Palgrave observes, not merely because it was open to the incursion 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE PICTS AND SCOTS. 33 

pear less difficult than before. However great the 
valour, and however estimable the other qualities of 
the Celtic race, they did not possess the patience, the 
perseverance, the capacity for united action, and the 

of the Saxons, but, most probably, because they had succeeded in 
fixing themselves in some portion of it. The weak hold which the 
Romans, at all times, had of Scotland, would render it an easier 
prey than England to the Franks and Saxons. Tacitus informs 
us, that the ruddy hair and lusty limbs of the Caledonians indicate 
a Germanic extraction. Richard of Cirencester tells us, that a 
little before the coming of Severus, the Picts landed in Scotland ; 
from which we are at least entitled to infer, that the Picts were 
not the original inhabitants of North Britain ; and probably the 
statement is substantially correct, inasmuch as large reinforce- 
ments landed in Scotland at this period, as previously observed. 
The Scots — the other branch of the people classed under the gener- 
al term Caledonians — are confessedly of Irish origin. When St. 
Columba, whose mother tongue was Irish Gaelic, preached to the 
Picts, he used an interpreter. Fordun, the Father of Scottish 
History, tells us, * The manners of the Scots are various as to 
their languages ; for they use two tongues, the Scottish and the 
Teutonic. The last is spoken by those on the sea-coasts and in 
the low countries, while the Scottish is the speech of the moun- 
taineers and the remote islanders.' The proper Scots, Camden 
describes as those commonly called Highlandmen ; ( for the 
rest,' he adds, 'more civilized, and inhabiting the eastern part, 
though comprehended under the name of Scots, are the far- 
thest in the world from being Scots, but are of the same German 
origin with us English/ Dr. Jamieson, whose researches in 
philology are well known, is decidedly of opinion that the Picts 
and Saxons had a common origin. Upon what other theory, 
he argues, can the prevalence of the Saxon tongue in the Low- 
lands of Scotland be accounted for ? William the Conqueror could 
not change the language of South Britain — was it likely that a few 
Saxon fugitives at the Scottish court could supplant that of their 
benefactors ? 

The theory of the Germanic origin of the Picts removes another 
difficulty. How is the disappearance of the Celtic tongue from 

F 



34 THE TEUT0NES SUPPLANT THE CELTS. 

power of command, which characterized the Teutonic 
tribes ; hence they would fall before them in any 
contest which required sustained exertion. Gib- 
bon's estimate of the character of the ancient Britons 
is probably correct — ' The various tribes possessed 
valour without conduct, and the love of freedom 
without the spirit of union. They took up arms 
with savage fierceness, they laid them down, or 
turned them against each other with wild incon- 
stancy ; and, while they fought singly, they were 
successively subdued.' 

The Picts, without the artificial advantages which 
the Romanized Britons possessed, doubtless had 
the usual characteristics of the Gothic tribes. By 
these they were enabled, in defiance of the desultory 
attempts of the previous occupants of the soil, to 
ravage the land, until, through the efforts of Vor- 

England to be accounted for ? The Saxons, on seizing the soil, 
would not exterminate the inhabitants, but retain them as bonds- 
men. Had the majority of the occupants of England been the 
original Britons or Romanized Celts, we should have found in our 
daily speech, and in the names of our towns and villages, a large 
intermixture of Gaelic and Latin ; but such is not the case. Grant 
that the Picts were a branch of the great Gothic family — and that 
successive waves of them had, long before the time of Cerdic, 
poured from the lowlands of Scotland over the plains of Eng- 
land, and the almost entire extermination of the ancient British 
is easily accounted for. 

If the theory here advocated, cannot be sustained, it must at least 
be allowed, that the population of North Britain was largely 
leavened with individuals of the Saxon race. These strangers 
would doubtless obtain that supremacy over the natives which the 
Franks did in Gaul ; so that, even upon this limited view of the 
question, the influence of the Germanic race in fixing the destinies 
of Britain, at this critical period, is apparent. 



ANTAGONISM OF THE RACES. 35 

tigern, they were confronted with foes of their own 
kith and kin. In our sister island, we unhappily wit- 
ness, though in a subdued form, much of that ani- 
mosity of race which led to the devastation and 
bloodshed that Gildas deplores. When will Sax- 
on and Celt lay aside their differences, and unite 
for the common weal of Britain! Why should they 
regard each other with mutual suspicion? Why 
should the one triumph, and the other sink into hope- 
less, helpless despair ? Creation groans — a prostrate 
world looks to united Britain and its offshoots, for 
that balm which may heal its woes — let it, strong 
in the confidence and love of its various constituent 
parts, faithfully fulfil its duty ! 

On reviewing this sketch of the proceedings of 
Rome, in relation to this distant portion of her great 
empire, the reader will perhaps be struck with the 
amount of attention which the Imperial City bestowed 
upon it. 

The classic authors speak most disparagingly of 
the land, and its inhabitants — 

Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. 

Virg. Ec. I. 
Serves iturum Csesarem in ultimos 
Orbis Britannos. Hor. Od. I. 35. 

Visam Britannos, hospitibus feros. 

Hor. Od, III. 4. 
Te belluosus qui remotis 
Obstrepit oceanus Britannis. 

nor. Od. IV. u. 

— and yet Britain, which, according to these author- 



36 THE ROMAN ESTIMATION OF BRITAIN. 

ities, scarcely formed a portion of the habitable earth, 
which was perpetually lashed by a stormy ocean, 
and whose inhabitants, unlike many barbaric tribes, 
were inhospitable to strangers, was the resort, 
not only of numerous legionary and auxiliary 
troops, but of very many of the emperors them- 
selves. Great Julius came. Claudius fought upon 
our soil. Vespasian entered into conflict thirty- 
two times with the southern Britons. Titus shared 
in his toils and triumphs. Hadrian was here, and 
left the impress of his mighty mind behind him. 
Septimius Severus ended his days in Britain; his sons 
Geta and Caracalla first assumed the purple in Brit- 
ain. The emperor Maximinus breathed, sixteen 
centuries ago, the sea-borne gales of Tynemouth. 
Britain, with its seas, was the chief scene of the ex- 
ploits of the emperor Carausius. Allectus reigned 
three years over it. Constantius was long in the 
island, and his son, Constantine the Great is said 
to have first drawn breath upon our soil. Both Con- 
stats and Magnentius were here. Theodosius the 
Emperor fought under his father in Britain. Max- 
imus, who had previously married a British lady, was 
invested by his soldiers with the purple at York — 
How comes it that so many of those who boasted of 
the mastery of this wide world, were induced person- 
ally to visit this little isle ? — how was it, but that 

Coming events cast their shadows before. 

It seems as though there was an affinity between 
England and Earth's rulers— and that thus early it was 



ROME FORESHADOWS BRITAIN'S DESTINY. 37 

pointed out as the spot in which, of all others, save 
one — Jerusalem — mankind had the greatest interest. 

The importance of Britain, in the estimation of 
the Romans, is further shewn by the fact, that, of the 
different coins struck by the imperial government in 
the short period extending from the reign of Claudius 
to that of Caracalla, at least fifty-six relate to this 
country. Of these, two were struck in the reign of 
Claudius, five in that of Hadrian, seventeen bear the 
impress of Antonine, ten of Severus, twelve of 
Caracalla, and ten of his brother Geta.* 

Whilst however we maintain that Rome was led 
to Britain by the impulse of a power of which she 
was not conscious, and whilst we willingly ac- 
knowledge that the conquest of Britain by the 
Romans was the first of that series of signal provi- 
dential arrangements, by which, from the dawn of 
history to the present hour, ' the Governor among 
the nations ' has prepared this island for performing 
that important part in the drama of history, which 
she now sustains, — the enquiry yet remains, by what 
motive were the conquerors more immediately im- 
pelled to settle in so remote an island ? Such toils 
would not have been endured, such sacrifices would 
not have been made, victories over tribes so savage 
would not thus have been gloried in, except the 

k The whole of these are accurately figured aud described in 
the " Materials for the History of Britain," published by the 
government. It is to be hoped that a work so auspiciously begun 
will not be strangled in its birth, by a false application of the prin- 
ciples of national economy. 



38 CAUSE OF THE ROMAN OCCUPATION. 

question ' cui bono?' could have been satisfactorily 
answered. * I confess,' says Horsley, ' that when I 
view some part of the country in the north of England, 
where the Romans had their military ways and sta- 
tions, that question naturally arises, which has been 
often proposed: What could move them to march so 
far to conquer such a country ? It appears wild and 
desolate enough at present, but must have been 
more so at that time, from the accounts the Roman 
historians have given us of it. I shall leave the 
Caledonian Galgacus, or Tacitus for him, to return 
the answer — If the enemy was rich, their covetous- 
ness moved them ; if poor, their ambition. And when 
they added further desolation to a desolate country, 
this was their peace.' Ambition was doubtless the 
leading motive. From the earliest periods of Roman 
history we find her bent upon conquest. Incessant 
wars engendered a thirst for victory, and military 
glory became the ruling passion of the people. The 
wide grasp of their ambition gave to the features of 
Roman character harder, but grander lineaments 
than those which their more polished neighbours of 
Greece possessed. Flattered, as the lords of the 
world, by their favourite poets and historians, they 
gloried in their proud pre-eminence, and thought that 
they were but fulfilling their destiny in asserting a 
claim to universal dominion. Candidates for public 
favour knew well that to fan the popular passion was 
the readiest way to succeed in their aims. None 
understood this better than Julius Caesar ; and the 
later emperors, who possessed not the power to strike 



WEALTH OF ANCIENT BRITAIN. 39 

an energetic blow, found it necessary to maintain 
the show at least of conquest and of triumph. 

Less worthy inducements were, however, not 
wanting. There are few evils in the fibres of 
whose roots the love of money will not be found. 
Gold was another secret but powerful cause of the 
hardships which the Romans themselves under- 
went, and of the countless ills which they mer- 
cilessly inflicted upon the miserable islanders. The 
British chiefs in general appear to have had con- 
siderable riches among them. Caesar, according to 
Strabo, acquired a large booty in his two descents 
upon our shore. Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, 
died possessed of very great wealth. To a few 
states in the south, and within a few years after 
their first subjection, the philosophical Seneca lent 
more than four hundred and eighty thousand pounds 
of our money upon good security, and at exorbitant 
interest. Severus got a prodigious mass of riches 
in this land. Gold is not now an article of mineral 
wealth in Britain. We are not from this to infer 
that it was not so when it was first invaded. The 
precious metal is not met with in veins or strata, but is 
diffused over the alluvial soil, or mixed with the sand 
of rivers in grains or lumps. When the commercial 
value of the glittering dust is discovered, it is 
speedily picked up, and a country, once rich in it, 
becomes, in the course of ages, impoverished. The 
number of massive golden torques and armillse of the 

1 Whitaker's History of Manchester, i. 228. 



40 THE FATE OF ROME. 

ancient Britons, which even yet are from time to time 
being brought to light, favours the idea that the metal 
was, in ancient days, tolerably abundant. Whatever 
the secret motives, Caesar came and conquered — 

The Eoman taught thy stubborn knee to bow, 
Though twice a Caesar could not bend it now. 

In passing from the contemplation of the Roman 
occupation of Britain to our examination of the re- 
mains of the chief monument of imperial power 
which time has left us, the mind will experience a 
great transition. In the Wall, we have evident 
traces of the might of Rome, but it is the might of 
a giant laid prostrate — 

Her haughty carcass spread, 

Still awes in ruins, and commands when dead. 

Centuries have elapsed since the vast fabric was 
upreared, but they have been centuries rife with the 
fate of empires. 

The most ardent lover of the olden time cannot 
but startle, as he treads the deserted streets, or en- 
ters the unbarred portals of Borcovicus, and other 
cities of the Wall, at the thought that the Mistress 
of Nations is now no more, w and that the Eternal City 
is buried in her own debris. The broken column, 
the prostrate altar, ever and anon obtrude the fact 
upon him. Another empire has sprung into being 
of which Rome dreamt not. In a sense different 

m " Politically speaking, Rome is now the city of the dead." 

Times, March 18th, 1850. 



PROSPECTIVE FATE OF BRITAIN. 41 

from that which Virgil intended, the words in his 
third Georgic are peculiarly striking — 

Vel scena ut versis discedat frontibus, utque 
Purpurea intexti tollant aulsea Britanni. 

Or see how on the stage the shifting scenes 

In order pass, and pictured Britons rise 

Out of the earth, and raise the purple curtain. 

In that island, where, in Roman days, the painted 
savage shared the forest with the beast of prey — a 
lady sits upon her throne of state, wielding a sceptre 
more potent than Julius or Hadrian ever grasped ! 
Her empire is threefold that of Rome in the hour of 
its prime. But power is not her brightest diadem. 
The holiness of the domestic circle irradiates her. 
Literature, and all the arts of peace, nourish under 
her sway. Her people bless her. 

Will Britain always thus occupy so prominent a 
position in the scene of this world's history? 

. . . Valet ima summis 
Mutare, et insignem attenuat Deus 
Obscura promens. 

The power that did create, can change the scene 
Of things ; make mean of great, and great of mean. 

Is the fate of Persia, Macedon, and Rome, never to be 
hers ? ' O Thou, that didst build up this Britannic 
empire to a glorious and enviable height, with all 
her daughter islands about her ; stay us in this feli- 
city !' What would Britain at this moment be with- 
out the Bible ? Let the seven-hilled city say ! If 

G 



42 LESSON INCULCATED. 

Britain herself obey the inspired word, and give it 
to the nations, then she needs not fear the shock of 
empires. If not, at a future day the native of a dis- 
tant isle, or obscure nation, then newly risen into 
greatness, moralizing over the reedy docks and grass- 
grown streets of London, may exclaim — How true the 
words of their own Milton! ' But if ... . as you 
have been valiant in war, you should grow debauched 
in peace, you that have had such visible demonstra- 
tions of the goodness of God to yourselves, and his 
wrath against your enemies .... you will find that 
God's displeasure against you, will be greater than it 
has been against your adversaries, greater than his 
grace and favour has been to yourselves, which you 
have had larger experience of than any other nation 
under heaven.' 




Base of Column at BORCOViCl'S. 




C|)e Ionian Barrier of tf)e 



PART II. 



A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE OF THE WALL. 



UMEROUS are the ap- 
pellations which the Great 
Barrier of the Lower Isth- 
mus has obtained. ' It was 
called by ancient writers 
vallum barbaricum, prceten- 
tura and clusura; by Dion 
SjaT£!^io-^a ; by Herodian 
^w/xa ; by Antoninus and 
others vallum; by some of 
the Latin historians murus; 
by the English the Picts'-wall, or the WALL ; 
and by the Britons gual Sever, gal Sever, and 
mur Sever. The names prcetentura and clu- 
sura are given to it upon account of its being 
stretched out against, and excluding the enemy.' 
To the names thus enumerated by Camden, 




44 GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS. 

must be added, the Thirl Wall, the Kepe Wall, 
and that by which it is best known at present, the 
Roman Wall. 
This great fortification consists of three parts. 

I. A Stone Wall, strengthened by a ditch on its 
northern side. fS 

II. A Turf Wall or Vallum, to the south of the 
stone wall. 

III. Stations, Castles, Watch-towers, and Roads, 
for the accommodation of the soldiery who manned 
the Barrier, and for the transmission of military 
stores. These lie, for the most part, between the 
stone wall and the earthen rampart. 

The whole of the works proceed from one side of 
the island to the other in a nearly direct line, and in 
comparatively close companionship. The stone wall 
and earthen rampart are generally within sixty or 
seventy yards of each other." The distance between 
them, however, varies according to the nature of 
the country. Sometimes they are so close as barely 
to admit of the passage of the military way between 
them, whilst, in one or two instances, they are up- 
wards of half-a-mile apart. It is in the high grounds 
of the central region that they are most widely separ- 
ated. Midway between the seas, the country attains 
a considerable elevation ; here the stone wall seeks 
the highest ridges, but the vallum, forsaking for a 
while its usual companion, runs along the adjacent 

n Hodgson states the mean of nineteen measurements to be 
one hundred and twenty six yards. — Northumberland, II. iii. 310. 
This high number is obtained by its including the mountain dis- 
tricts, where the works are widely separated. 



I 



PLATE //. 




jVezv6u?y7i/ 



.Cast 

TcWerpstf 

Turret 

^Turret 



Ifahuuk 



vr? 



•est 
toe 



'A, 
tzr 



THE 



WALL 



JZunnzim/ 
-non? 

Jffa/tcm, CTissters 



k? 



THE VALLUM 



<>- 



THE' 



a < > o a 

Vmtlohalo/ 
now 



IV ALL 



/VO/trff ACCEfi 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS. 45 

valley. Both works are, however, so arranged as 
to afford each other the greatest amount of support 
which the nature of the country allows. 

The stone wall extends from Wall's-end on the 
Tyne, to Bowness on the Sol way, a space which 
Horsley estimates at sixty-eight miles and three fur- 
longs — the turf wall falls short of this distance by about 
three miles at each end, terminating at Newcastle 
on the east side, and at Drumburgh on the west. 

The Map of the Wall, the more detailed Plans 
of several parts of it in Plate II, and the Sections 
given in a subsequent page, will afford a pretty cor- 
rect idea of the general arrangement of the works. 

Most writers who have treated of the Roman 
remains in Britain, have considered that the two lines 
of fortification are the works of different periods. 
The earth-wall, or Vallum, has generally been a- 
scribed to Hadrian, but the stone wall, or Murus, to 
Septimius Severus. This is the opinion of Horsley, 
whose judgment is always deserving of the highest 
consideration. Deferring to a subsequent period the 
discussion of this question, it will be convenient, 
meanwhile, to speak of the works as being but dif- 
ferent parts of one great engineering scheme. 

The most striking feature in the plan, both of the 
Murus and the Vallum, is the determinate manner in 
which they pursue their straight-forward course. The 
Vallum makes fewer deviations from a right line than 
the stone Wall ; but as the Wall traverses higher 
ground, this remarkable tendency is more easily de- 
tected in it than in the other. Shooting over the coun- 




./•,,;/./-/;;,.. //77W™» J-JwOS^aMfci 



46 THE COURSE OF THE WALL. 

try, in its onward course, it only swerves from a 
straight line to take in its route the boldest eleva- 
tions. So far from declining a hill, it uniformly 
selects it. For nineteen miles out of Newcastle, the 
road to Carlisle runs upon the foundation of the 
Wall, and during the summer months its dusty sur- 
face contrasts well with the surrounding verdure. 
Often will the traveller, after attaining some of the 
steep acclivities of his path, observe the road stretch- 
ing for miles in an undeviating course to the east 
and the west of him, resembling, as Hutton expresses 
it, a white ribbon on a green ground. But if it never 
moves from a right line, except to occupy the highest 
points, it never fails to seize them, as they occur, 
no matter how often it is compelled, with this view, 
to change its direction. It never bends in a curve, 
but always at an angle. Hence, along the craggy pre- 
cipices between Sewingshields and Thirlwall, it is 
obliged to pursue a remarkably zig-zag course ; for 
it takes in its range, with the utmost pertinacity, 
every projecting rock. 

This mode of proceeding involves another pecu- 
liarity. It is compelled to accommodate itself to 
the depressions of the mountainous region over 
which it passes. Without flinching, it sinks into the 
' gap/ or pass, which ever and anon occurs, and, hav- 
ing crossed the narrow valley, ascends unfalteringly 
the steep acclivity on the other side. The anti- 
quary, in following it into these ravines, is often com- 
pelled to step with the utmost caution, and in clam- 
bering up the opposite ascent, he is as frequently 



THE HEIGHT OF THE WALL. 47 

constrained to pause for breath. After crossing the 
river Irthing, in Cumberland, the Wall is opposed 
in its course westward by a precipice of upwards of 
one hundred feet in height. It cannot now be ascer- 
tained, whether or not the Wall was taken up the edge 
of this cliff, for the stratum is of a soft and yielding 
nature, and is continually being removed by the 
river below. Certain, however, it is, that the Wall, 
accompanied by its ditch, is still to be seen on the very 
brink of its summit. If it did not climb this steep, 
it is the only one which, in the course of the line 
from sea to sea, it refused — and if it did ascend it, it 
would more nearly resemble a leaning tower than a 
barrier wall. 

In no part of its course is the Wall entirely per- 
fect, and therefore it is difficult to ascertain what its 
original height has been. Bede, whose cherished 
home was the monastery of Jarrow, anciently part 
of the parish of Wall's-end, is the earliest author who 
gives its dimensions. He says — t It is eight feet in 
breadth, and twelve in height, in a straight line from 
east to west, as is still visible to beholders/ Subse- 
quent writers assign to it a greater elevation. It 
is not unlikely that the venerable monk, who was 
no traveller, describes it as it existed in his own 
neighbourhood ; and we can readily conceive that in 
a flat country, and upon the border of a navigable 
river, it would, even then, have suffered more from 
the hand of the spoiler than in the wilder regions 
of the West. 

In a letter written by Sir Christopher Ridley, is 



48 THE HEIGHT OF THE WALL. 

an account of the Wall as it stood about the year 
1572. The writer says — 

Rycht worschipfull, where as you spake unto me for a 
certayn knowledge of one wall builded betwyxt the Brittons 
and Pightes (which we call the Kepe Wall) builded by the 
Pightes, sure theyr is one. The length whereof is about, I 
think, almost a C myles, bilded alwayis whar they cold upon 
the hyghtes, whereon about the greatest cragis was, and whare 
theyr was no cragis or hy placis theyr was a great stank cast 
of other syd, the bredth iij yardis, the hyght remanith in 
sum placis yet vij yardis, it goith from Bowlness in Cu'berland 
viij myles beyond Carlell upon the west sea cost till it comes 
to a town called the Wallis end besyd Tynemouth on the est 
sea. n 

Samson Erdeswick, an English antiquary of some 
celebrity, visited the Wall, in the year 1574.° His 
account is here given — 

As towching Hadrian's^ Wall, begyning abowt a town 
called Bonus standing vppon the river Sulway now called 
Eden. The sea ebbeth and floweth there. The forsaid 
Wall begynning there, and there yet standing of the heyth of 
1 6 fote, for almost a quarter of a myle together, and so along 
the river syde estwards, they space of an eight myle by the 
shew of the trench, as certayne ruynes of castills in that wall, 
tyll a qwarter of a myle of Oarlyole, and there passeth ower the 
river of Eden ; and then goeth straight estwards hard by a late 
abbey called Lanvercost, and so crossing ower the mown- 
taynes toward Newcastell. 

•Harl. MSS. 374,— impr. Hodg. North'd. II. iii. 273. 

Harl. MSS. 373, — impr. Richardson's Reprints and Imprints, 
divis. Miscell. 

p It will be observed here that the erection of this structure has 
not been always ascribed to Severus. 



THE WIDTH OF THE WALL. 49 

Camden, who visited the Wall in 1599, says — 

Within two furlongs of Oarvoran, on a pretty high hill the 
Wall is still standing fifteen feet in height, and nine in 
breadth. 

These statements leave upon the mind an im- 
pression that the estimate of Bede is too low. 

In all probability, the Wall would be surmounted 
by a battlement of not less than four feet in height, 
and as this part of the structure would be the first to 
fall into decay, Bede's calculation was probably irre- 
spective of it. This, however, only gives us a total 
elevation of sixteen feet. Unless we reject the 
evidence of Ridley and Erdeswick, we must admit, 
even after making due allowance for error and ex- 
aggeration, that the Wall, when in its integrity, was 
eighteen or nineteen feet high. This elevation 
would be in keeping with its breadth. 

The thickness of the Wall varies considerably; in 
some places it is six feet, in others nine feet and a 
half. 9 Probably the prevailing width is eight feet, 
the measurement given by Bede. 

The frequency with which the thickness of the 
Wall varies, favours the idea that numerous gangs 
of labourers were simultaneously employed upon the 
work, and that each superintending centurion was al- 
lowed to use his discretion as to its width. The north- 

9 Greater extremes are met with, but they are rare. Hodgson 
in a note p. 276 says, The foundations in the turnpike -road, just 
west of Portgate are scarcely seven feet broad; but opposite a 
plantation a little further west, ten feet and a half. Hutton found 
the Wall at Brunton only five feet and a half thick. 

H 



50 THE NORTH FOSSE. 

ern face of the Wall is continuous, but the southern 
has numerous outsets and insets measuring from 
four to twelve inches, at the points, doubtless, where 
the sections of the different companies joined. 

Throughout the whole of its length, the Wall is 
accompanied on its northern margin by a broad and 
deep Fosse, which, by increasing the comparative 
height of the Wall, would add greatly to its strength. 
Tihs portion of the Barrier may yet be traced, with 
trifling interruptions, from sea to sea. Even in places 
where the Wall has quite disappeared, its more lowly 
companion, the fosse, remains. In some fertile 
districts the plough has been carried over it in 
vain ; owing to the moisture of the site, the corn 
sown upon it springs up with undue luxuriance, 
and is almost uniformly laid prostrate before it can 
ripen. From this circumstance the ground is fre- 
quently retained in grass, while the neighbouring 
parts are under tillage. 7 " The fosse thus more readily 
catches the eye, and is likely longer to retain its 
groove-like form than if subjected to the ordinary 
process of cultivation. 

When the ditch traverses a flat or exposed country, 
a portion of the materials taken out of it has fre- 
quently been thrown upon its northern margin, so as 
to present to the enemy an additional rampart. In 
those positions, on the other hand, where its assist- 
ance could be of no avail, as along the edge of a 
cliff, the fosse does not appear. 

r This is particularly the case about Old Wall in Cumberland. 



THE NORTH FOSSE. 51 

No small amount of labour has been expended in 
the excavation of the ditch ; it has been drawn in- 
differently through alluvial soil, and rocks of sand- 
stone, limestone, and basalt The patient exertion 
which this involved is well seen on Tepper Moor, 
where enormous blocks of whin lie just as they have 
been lifted out of the fosse. The fosse never leaves 
the Wall to avoid a mechanical difficulty. 

The size of the ditch in several places is still con- 
siderable. To the east of Heddon-on-the-Wall, it 
measures thirty four feet across the top, and is nearly 
nine feet deep; as it descends the hill from Carvoran 
to Thirlwall, it measures forty feet across the top, 
fourteen across the bottom, and is ten feet deep. 
Westward of Tepper Moor is a portion which, reck- 
oning from the top of the mound on its northern 
margin, has a depth of twenty feet. 

The dimensions of the fosse were probably not 
uniform throughout the line ; but these examples pre- 
pare us to receive, as tolerably correct, Hutton's 
estimate of its average size. * The ditch to the north,' 
he says ' was as near as convenient, thirty -six feet 
wide and fifteen feet deep." 

The care with which the fosse was dressed, has 
varied with the taste of the overseer and the forbear- 
ance of the enemy. In some tracts, the work pre- 
sents as smooth and trim an aspect as a modern 
railway cutting; in others, marks of haste, care- 
lessness, or sudden surprise, appear. The curious 
circumstance which Hodgson describes in the fol- 
' Hutton's Roman Wall, 139. 



52 



THE VALLUM, 



lowing paragraph may be seen in more than one 
locality : — 

1 A little west of Portgate, the appearance of the fosse is 
still, to the eye that loves and understands antiquity, very 
imposing and grand. The earth taken out of it lies spread 
abroad to the north, in lines just as the workmen wheeled it 
out and left it. The tracks of their barrows, with a slight 
mound on each side remain unaltered in form.'" 

The Vallum or Turf Wall, is uniformly to the 
south of the stone Wall. It consists of three ram- 
parts and a fosse. One of these ramparts is placed 
close upon the southern edge of the ditch, the two 
others of larger dimensions* stand, one to the north, 
and the other to the south of it, at the distance of 
about twenty-four feet. The annexed sections of 
the works exhibit their present condition. They 




The works near the 18th mile-stone West of Newcastle. 




The works half a mile west of Carraw. 

are drawn to the scale of seventy-five feet to the 
inch. The Wall is in these parts, unhappily, 
entirely removed. 

u Hodg. North'd. II. iii. 276. 

v Horslej, in the profiles of the barrier which he gives, repre- 
sents the marginal rampart or agger as being much larger than 
the south one. The present aspect of the works does not warrant 
such a delineation. 



THE VALLUM. 53 

The ramparts, in some parts of the line, stand, even 
at present, six or seven feet above the level of the 
neighbouring ground."' They are composed of earth, 
mingled, not unfrequently, with masses of stone. Oc- 
casionally, the stone preponderates to such an extent 
as to yield to the hand of the modern spoiler, ready 
materials for the formation of stone dikes. In several 
places they are being quarried with this view. 

The fosse of the Vallum is of a character similar to 
the fosse of the stone Wall ; but, judging from pre- 
sent appearances, its dimensions have been rather 
less. It, too, has been frequently cut through beds 
of stone. 

The question will occasionally occur to the wan- 
derer by the Wall, whence were the materials ob- 
tained for constructing the mounds of the Vallum ? 
With the exception of the fosse, there are no marks 
of excavation in the neighbourhood, and that the 
fosse of the Vallum would not yield materials suffi- 
cient for the purpose, is abundantly evident/ 

The contents of the ditch on the north of the 
Wall have probably gone to assist in the formation 
of these lines. This statement of course proceeds 
upon the supposition that the Wall and the Vallum 
were contemporaneous works. Upon the same as- 
sumption, it may be added that the ramparts of the 
Vallum are probably indebted for some portion of the 

w When travelling along the road west of Birdoswald, I have 
seen a ploughman and his team entirely disappear, on descending 
into the fosse of the Vallum. 

x An inspection of Horslej's own sections will at once show 
this. — Britan. Romana, 158. 



54 USE OF THE VALLUM. 

stone which they contain, to the chippings of the 
Wall. 

Although the distance between the stone Wall and 
the Vallum is, as already observed, perpetually vary- 
ing, the lines of the Vallum maintain amongst them- 
selves nearly the same relative position throughout 
their entire course. 

No apparent paths of egress have been made 
through these southern lines of fortification. The 
only mode of communication with the country to 
the south, originally contemplated, seems to have 
been by the gateways of the stations. 

If we adopt the theory that the Wall and the Val- 
lum exhibit unity of design, a question of some im- 
portance arises — With what view was the Vallum 
constructed ? Hodgson, with much probability, 
conceives that, whilst the Wall undertook the harder 
duty of warding off the professedly hostile tribes 
of Caledonia, the Vallum was intended as a protec- 
tion against sudden surprise from the south. The 
natives of the country on the south side of the Wall, 
though conquered, were not to be depended upon ; 
in the event of their kinsmen in the north gaining an 
advantage, they would be ready to avail themselves 
of it. The Romans knew this, and with character- 
istic prudence made themselves secure on both sides. 

But, whatever we may conceive to have been the 
design of the Vallum, the peculiarity of its form will 
excite the attention of the enquirer, though probably 
without his arriving at any satisfactory explanation. 
Supposing, according to the common theory, that the 



PECULIAR CONSTRUCTION OF THE VALLUM. 55 

Vallum was an independent fortification, erected 
long before the Wall, to resist a northern foe, why 
was not the ditch, as in the case of the stone Wall, 
drawn along the northern edge of the northern agger? 
I cannot supply an answer. A similar difficulty meets 
us on the supposition that it was meant to guard 
against attack from the other side. Again, what part 
did the smaller rampart on the south edge of the 
fosse perform P Possibly it may have been intended 
as a foot-hold for the soldiers when fighting on this 
platform against the revolted Britons south of the 
barrier. 

The third, and perhaps the most important, part of 
the barrier line consisted of the structures that were 
formed for the accommodation of the soldiery, and for 
the ready transmission of troops and stores. Neither 
stone walls, nor ditches, nor earthen ramparts, 
would alone have proved material impediments to 
the incursions of the Caledonians — 

An iron race, 

Foes to the gentler genius of the plain. 

It is reported that Agesilaus, when asked where 
were the walls of Sparta, pointed to his soldiers 
and said, ' There.' The Romans placed their chief re- 
liance on the valour and discipline of their armies, 
though they did not despise the assistance of mural 
lines. In a foreign country, to which it was difficult 
to transmit relays of troops, it became a matter of 
great importance to economize the lives of the sol- 
diery. Hence arose the Wall. 



56 THE STATIONS. 

Those portions of the great barrier which yet 
await our consideration, are the Stations, the Mile- 
castles, the Turrets, and the Roads. 

At distances along the line which average nearly 
four miles, Stationary Camps (siationes or castra 
stativa) were erected. These received their dis- 
tinctive appellation, in contradistinction from those 
temporary ramparts, which were thrown up when 
an army halted for a night or for some brief period. 

The stations on the line of the Wall were mil- 
itary cities, adapted for the residence of the chief 
who commanded the district, and providing secure 
lodgment for the powerful body of soldierv he had 
under him. Here the commandant held his court ; 
hence issued decrees which none might gainsay; 
here Roman arts, and literature, and luxury, strug- 
gled for existence, when all around was ignorance 
and barbarity. 

Some of the stations, though connected with the 
Wall, have evidently, as will afterwards be shewn, 
been built before it : this does not prove that they 
did not form part of the great design. To secure 
a safe retreat for the soldiers employed upon the 
work would necessarily be the first care of the 
builder. 

The stations are uniformly quadrangular in their 
shape, though somewhat rounded at the corners, and 
contain an area of from three to five acres. A stone 
wall, five feet thick, encloses them, and has pro- 
bably in every instance been strengthened by a fosse, 
and one or more earthen ramparts. They usually 



THE PLACE OF THE STATIONS. 57 

stand upon ground which slopes to the south, and 
are naturally defended upon one side at least. 

The Wall, when it does not fall in with the 
northern wall of a station, usually comes up to the 
northern cheek of its eastern and western gateways. 
The Vallum, in like manner, usually approaches 
close to the southern wall of the station, or comes up 
to the defence of the southern side of the eastern 
and western portals. Examples of these arrange- 
ments are given in Plate II. At least three of the 
stations, it must, however, be observed, are quite 
detached from both lines of fortification, being situ- 
ated to the south of them. They may have been 
members of Agricola's chain of forts. 

Probably all the stations have, on their erection, 
been provided, after the usual method of Roman cas- 
trametation, with four gateways ; in several instances 
one or more of these portals have been walled up at 
an early period, in consequence, probably, of some 
natural weakness in the situation. 

Narrow streets, intersecting each other at right 
angles, occupy the interior of the stations, and 
abundant ruins, outside the walls, indicate the fact that 
extensive suburbs have, in every instance, been re- 
quired for the accommodation of the camp-followers. 

In selecting a spot for a station, care has been 
taken that an abundant supply of water should 
be at hand. The springs, rivulets, wells, and 
aqueducts, whence they procured the needful fluid, 
are still, in many places, to be traced ; and never did 
water more limpid, more sparkling, more invigorat- 

i 



58 THE FERTILITY OF THE STATIONS. 

ing, lave the lips of man, than that which flows from 
these sources. 

For the most part, the stations — cities which for 
centuries were the abodes of busy men, and which 
resounded with the hum of multitudes, and the clash 
of arms, — now present a scene of utter desolation. 
The wayfarer may pass through them without know- 
ing it ; the streets are levelled, the temples are over- 
thrown, and the sons and daughters of Italy, Maur- 
itania, and Spain, whose adopted homes they were, 
no longer encounter him. The sheep, depastur- 
ing the grass-grown ruins, look listlessly upon 
the passer-by, and the curlew, wheeling above 
his head, screams as at the presence of an intruder. 
Whether, or not, sites naturally fertile were chosen 
for the stations does not appear ; but certain it 
is, that they are now for the most part coated with 
a sward more green and more luxuriant than that 
which covers the contiguous grounds. Centuries of 
occupation have given them a degree of fertility 
which, probably, they will never lose/ One can 
scarcely turn up the soil without meeting, not only 
with fragments of Roman pottery and other imperish- 
able articles, but with the bones of oxen, the tusks 
of boars, the horns of deer, and other animal re- 
mains. The debris of some of these cities is consid- 

y In corroboration of this statement, it may be mentioned that 
an intelligent and substantial farmer offered to take, on a twenty- 
one years' lease, the Corchester field, in which the station of Cors- 
topitum stood, at the yearly rate of 61. per acre. It contains 
twelve acres. 



THE NAMES OP THE STATIONS. 59 

ered to be more valuable for farm purposes, than the 
recent produce of the fold-yard, and is used as such. 

It is not a little remarkable that the names of the 
stations, which must have been household words in 
the days of Roman occupation, have for the most part 
been obliterated from the local vocabulary ; they are 
now only to be recalled, and that with difficulty, by ex- 
huming the stony records of the past, and comparing 
them with the notices of contemporaneous geogra- 
phers. The truth is, that military reasons dictated the 
choice of the stations, — commercial facilities gave rise 
to modern cities. Long may the mere military out- 
post be consigned to the shepherd's use, whilst the 
wharf and the warehouse are beset by the busy 
crowd ! 

According to Horsley, the stations on the line of 
the Wall, were eighteen in number, besides some 
that were placed in its immediate vicinity, and lent 
to it important aid. Hodgson, conceiving that 
Horsley has in one instance mistaken a mere sum- 
mer fortification for a stationary camp, reduces the 
number of stations on the line itself to seventeen. 

In ascertaining the number and the names of the 
stations, a most valuable document has come down 
to our times from the period of Roman occupation. 
The * Notitia Imperii' was probably written about the 
end of the reign of Theodosius the younger, and was 
certainly composed before the Romans abandoned 
this island. It is a sort of list of the several military 
and civil officers and magistrates both in the eastern 
and western empires, with the places at which they 



60 THE STATIONS ACCORDING TO THE NOTITIA. 

were stationed. It may, in fact, be regarded as the 
roll-call of the Roman army. The sixty-ninth 
section of the work contains a list of the prefects 
and tribunes under the command of the Honourable 
the Duke of Britain. The portion of the section in 
which we are at present interested is headed, Item 
per lineam valli — Also along the line of the Wall — 
and contains the following list : — 

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingones* at Segedunum. 

The Tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii at Pons iElii. 

The Prefect of the first ala, or wing, of the Asturesf at Condercum. 

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi at Vindobala. 

The Prefect of the Savin ian ala at Hunnum. 

The Prefect of the second ala of Astures at Cilurnum. 

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at Procolitia. - 

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungri at Borcovicus. 

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vindolana. 

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Astures at iEsica. 

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Dalmatians at Magna. 

The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled iElia, at Amboglanna. 

The Prefect of the ala, called Petriana, at Petriana. 

The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled Aureliani, at Aballaba. 

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lergi at Congayata. -. 

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Spaniards at Axelodununi. 

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at Gabrosentis. 

The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled iElia, at Tunnocelum. 

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at Glannibanta. 

The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervii at Alionis. 

The Cuneus of men in armour at Bremetenracum. 

The Prefect of the first ala, styled Herculean, at Olenacum. 

The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervii at Virosidum. 

* The Notitia has Lergorum, but it will be afterwards shewn that this is probably an error for 
Lingonum. 

■\ The Notitia has Astorum in this and the subsequent instances, but all the inscriptions 
hitherto found have Asturum. 

It is not said, nor does it appear, that all these 
twenty-three stations were exactly upon the line of 
the Wall itself. It is very plain indeed, says 
Horsley, that according to the Notitia, Segedunum 
was the first, for that immediately follows the title 



THE CORROBORATION OF LETTERED STONES. 61 



per lineam valli ; but he has not told us expressly 
at what place or station they end/ Those stations 
which were not on the Wall were probably in its 
vicinity, and were connected with it by military 
ways. The stations in this list are manifestly, as 
this writer also observes, set down in some order, and 
those that were near to each other are placed to- 
gether ; a so that if we ascertain the identity of some 
of them, we may form a pretty correct estimate of the 
position of the intermediate or neighbouring stations. 
When, in the ruins of a station, inscribed stones are 
found bearing the name of a cohort mentioned in the 
Notitia, the inference is natural, that, in most cases 
at least, the imperial Notitia will furnish us with 
a key to the ancient designation of the station. The 
argument becomes irresistible, when, in several suc- 
cessive instances the designations thus obtained cor- 
respond exactly with the order of the places as given 
in the Notitia. Let us 
take an example. At 
the station of Chesters, 
on the North Tyne, 
several slabs have been 
found, bearing the 
name of the second ala, 
or wing, of the Astures. 
One of these is here represented. 6 It is a sepulchral 








.■f^^J' , 




Brit. Rom. 102, 



a Ibid. 473. 



b This slab is in the possession of his Grace the Duke of North- 
umberland, and is preserved, along with several other interesting 
reliqnes of the Wall, in that noble baronial residence, so worthy 
of the chiefs of Percy, Alnwick Castle. 



62 



CILURNUM APPROPRIATED. 



stone, and bears at the end of the third and the be- 
ginning of the fourth lines the words — 



II ASTVR[UM]. 



ALAE 



Now, as the Notitia represents this ala, or troop of 
cavalry, to have been stationed at Cilurnum, the pro- 
bability is, that the camp on the west bank of the 
North Tyne is the Cilurnum of Roman Britain. 

Immediately following 
' The second wing of the 
Astures at Cilurnum,' on 
the Notitia list, is, 'The 
first cohort of the Batavians 
at Procolitia.' Now the 
station immediately west of 
Chesters is Carrawburgh, 
and here a slab and an altar 
have been found, inscribed 
with the name of this very 
cohort. The woodcut re- 
presents one of them/ an altar to Fortune, whch is 
thus inscribed — 




FORTVNAE 

coh i batavorIumJ 

CVI PRIEST 

MELACCINIVS 

MARCELLUS PR^FECTUS] 



To Fortune 
The first cohort of the Batavians 
Commanded by 
Melaccinius 
Marcellus, Prefect. 



The conclusion is natural, — Carrawburgh is the Pro 
colitia of the Notitia. 



Now in the Dean and Chapter Library at Durham. 



BORCOVICUS ASCERTAINED. 



63 



Moving westward, the 
next station we come to 
is Housesteads ; here nu- 
merous inscribed stones 
have been discovered, 
which mention the first 
cohort of the Tungri. 
One of these, an altar to 
Jupiter, which is now 
in the possession of the 
Society of Antiquaries of 
Newcastle - upon -Tyne, 
and is preserved in their 
museum, is accurately 
given in the accompany- 
ing engraving. 




I[OVl] 0[PTIMO] MtAXIMO] 
ET NVMINIBUS 
AVG[USTI] COHfORS] I TV- 
NGRORVM 
MIL[LIARIA] CVI PRIE- 
ST QruiNTUS] VERIVS 
SVPERSTIS 
PR^FECTVS 



To Jupiter, the greatest and best, 

And the Deities 

Of Augustus; the first cohort of the 

Tungri, 

A milliary one/ commanded by 

Quintus Verius 

Superstis, 

Prefect. 

The correspondence between the Notitia and the 
sculptures derived from this station, is again too 
striking to admit a doubt, that the Housesteads of 

d According both to Hyginus and Vegetius, the first cohort 
of a legion, in the times of the lower empire, was called milliaria, 
from its being stronger than any cohort of the legion, and from 
its generally consisting of about a thousand men. 

Arch. JEL ii., 83. 



64 THE FATE OF LETTERED STONES. 

the modern shepherd is the Borcovicus of the 
Roman hosts. 

In this way, the ancient designations of the sta- 
tions from Segedunum, Wall's-end, to Amboglan- 
na, Birdoswald, have been accurately ascertained ; 
but no stony memorial of the past has arisen to con- 
firm the Notitia account of the stations westward 
of this point. The peculiarly fertile nature of the 
soil between the river Irthing and the Solway has 
been inimical to the preservation of the Wall and 
its antiquities. The wants of a numerous population 
rendered stones of every kind valuable ; and in an 
ignorant age, when anything in the shape of a letter 
was regarded as a thing of evil omen, those most 
precious to the historian were the first to be sacri- 
ficed/ Since the accuracy of the Notitia has been 
confirmed in so many instances, it is but fair to 
conclude, that it may be safely taken as a guide in 
fixing the Roman designations of the remaining 
stations along the line. Cambeck Fort is the sta- 
tion next to Birdoswald ; the Notitia places Petri- 
ana next in order to Amboglanna, which has been 

e A correspondent of the author writes ' Even in my 
own day it was the custom of the superstitious, on the line of 
the Wall, especially between Birdoswald and Cambeck Fort to 
pound the stones, bearing inscriptions, into sand for their kitchens, 
or bury them in the foundations of houses or walls, for the simple 
reason that they considered them unlucky — calling them ( witch 
stones'. When one was found, the old wives fearing that the but- 
ter might not form in the churn, took good care that it should 
never again make its appearance. Thus down went many a 
splendid Roman altar, a sacrifice to ignorance and superstition* ! 



THE STATIONS WEST OF AMBOGLANNA. 65 

ascertained to be Birdoswald — doubtless, according 
to this reasoning, Cambeck Fort is the ancient 
Petriana. In this way, could it be certainly as- 
certained which were the stations per lineam valli, 
each station might have its Roman name restored, 
though not a syllable of the ancient designation be 
retained in the modern cognomen. We should have 
but to read over the roll-call, and let each camp in 
succession answer to its name. Unhappily, there is 
some doubt as to which are the stations along the 
line of the Wall. Horsley conceives that Watch 
Cross is the station next in order to Cambeck Fort, 
and, accordingly, calls it Aballaba; Stanwix, Burgh, 
Drumburgh, and Bowness, he successively denomin- 
ates, after the Notitia, Congavata, Axelodunum, 
Gabrosentis, and Tunnocelum. Subsequent in- 
quirers, and, in particular, the Rev. John Hodgson, 
have seen reason to suspect that Watch Cross was 
not a station per lineam valli. It probably was des- 
titute of stone walls, and was surrounded only by a 
rampart of earth/ It seems to have been a mere 
castra (estiva — a summer encampment, and conse- 
quently, was not entitled to rank with those strong- 
holds that were intended to withstand all foes at all 
seasons. Should Watch Cross be laid aside, the 
whole of Horsley's subsequent allocation of the 
Notitia names is thrown out of course. It is much 
to be desired that some ' Witch Stone' would start 

-^ The plough has now passed over the station of Watch Cross. 
The enquiries which I have made on the spot, and in the neigbour- 
hood, are, on the whole, confirmatory of Hodgson's view. 

K 



66 THE EXTINCTION OF ROMAN NAMES. 

from its hiding-place in the foundation of some cot- 
tage or castle in the neighbourhood of any one of the 
stations west of Cambeck Fort, and resolve the in- 
teresting question. Until such an event does occur, 
some doubt must hang upon the subject. The read- 
er will now understand how it is, that, according 
to some authorities, the stations immediately de- 
pendent upon the Wall are said to be eighteen in num- 
ber, and according to others only seventeen. For 
the reason just referred to, the Notitia names of the 
stations are not given on the Map of the Wall west- 
ward of Petriana. 

The remainder of the stations of the Notitia were 
probably out-posts, intended to give support to the 
whole structure. The difficulty of rightly appro- 
priating the Notitia appellations to such of these as 
have not yielded inscribed stones, is even greater 
than in the case of those which follow more closely 
the line of the Wall. 

Before leaving this subject, the reader will do well 
to compare the ancient with the modern names of the 
stations, as far as they are ascertained ; in doing 
so, he will be struck with the almost total absence 
of any similarity between them. So complete, it 
would appear, has been the subversion by Pict, and 
Saxon, and Dane, of the Roman domination in the 
north of England, that the very names of the cities 
which w T ere occupied by the empire for centuries 
have perished, 

And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded, 
Leave not a rack behind. 



THE CASTELLA OR MILE- CASTLES. 67 

In addition to the Stations, Castella or Mile- 
Castles were provided for the use of the troops which 
garrisoned the Wall. They derive their modern name 
from the circumstance of their being usually placed at 
the distance of a Roman mile from each other. They 
were quadrangular buildings, differing somewhat in 
size, but usually measuring from sixty to seventy feet 
in each direction. With two exceptions, they have 
been placed against the southern face of the Wall ; 
the castle at Portgate, every trace of which is now 
obliterated, and another near iEsiCA, the foundations 
of which may, with some difficulty, still be traced, 
seem to have projected equally to the north and 
south of the Wall. Though generally placed 
about seven furlongs from each other, the nature of 
the ground, independently of distance, has frequently 
determined the spot of their location. Whenever 
the Wall has had occasion to traverse a river or a 
mountain pass, a mile-castle has uniformly been 
placed on the one side or other to guard the defile. 
The mile-towers have generally had but one gate of 
entrance, which was of very substantial masonry, and 
was uniformly placed in the centre of the south wall; 
the most perfect specimen now remaining, however, 
has a northern, as well as a southern gateway. It 
is not easy to conjecture what were the internal 
arrangements of these buildings ; probably they 
afforded little accommodation beyond what their four 
strong walls and well-barred gates gave. Hodgson 
states that when the foundations of the castle north- 
east of Housesteads were removed in 1832, the remains 
of an inner wall were seen, all round, parallel to the 



68 THE TURRETS OR WATCH TOWERS. 

outer walls. He hence infers that the space between 
the walls has been roofed, and the centre uncovered. 
Deferring the further discussion of this subject un- 
til, in the course of our local description, we arrive at 
the most perfect specimen remaining — the mile-castle 
near Cawfields — the reader is meanwhile referred 
to the lithograph which depicts this interesting remain. 
Between the mile-castles, four subsidiary build- 
ings, generally denominated Turrets or Watch 
Towers, were placed. They were little more than 
stone sentry-boxes. It is with much difficulty that 
they can now be traced. Horsley, in his day, com- 
plained that ' scarce three of them could be made out 
in succession.' Would that the modern antiquary 
could make the same lamentation ! Scarcely one 
along the whole line can with certainty be determin- 
ed. They contained an interior space of eight or ten 
feet square. Horsley states the distance between 
them to have been three hundred and eight yards — 
the whole number would consequently be three 
hundred and twenty. Though small buildings, they 
were, like all the works of the Romans, built for per- 
petuity. Hodgson found the walls of one near Bird- 
oswald to be nearly three feet thick. Such were the 
buildings provided for the lodgement and security 
of the cohorts, whose hard lot it was to guard this 
frontier barrier. A plan of Cilurnum, and the works 
in its vicinity, taken from Warburton's Vallum 
Romanum, in Plate II., exhibits these arrangements, 
and shews, as he remarks, how the Wall and the 
Vallum, the stations, turrets, and castles, yielded 
mutual assistance to each other. 



THE MILITARY WAY. f)9 

But all these arrangements were not enough; with- 
out Roads, one important element in the strength of 
the Great Barrier would have been wanting. Nothing 
economizes military force more effectually than the pos- 
session of means for quickly concentrating all avail- 
able resources upon any point that the enemy may 
select for attack. The advance of Roman armies, and 
the formation of roads, were uniformly contempora- 
neous. The Barrier had its Military Way. It is im- 
possible to over-estimate the importance of this part 
of the works. Without it, all the rest would have been 
useless. It would not, perhaps, be incorrect to say 
that both Vallum and Wall were subsidiary to it, 
and that the chief use of these structures was to 
guard the road, and to protect and conceal from view, 
both on the north and south, the troops that marched 
along it. The modern history of the district tra- 
versed by the Wall furnishes a singular corrobora- 
tion of this opinion. In the rebellion of 1715, the 
operations of the royalist forces were greatly im- 
peded by the absence of a good road between New- 
castle and Carlisle. In the rebellion of 1745, a 
similar inconvenience was experienced. Marshal 
Wade was at Newcastle when the Pretender ap- 
peared before the city of Carlisle. The commandant 
of the city immediately sent an express to inform him 
of his position. The general's answer contained these 
words : — - 

Newcastle, November 10th, 1745, 7 o'clock. 
Gentlemen, 

I have just now the favour of your letter by 
express, with an account of the Rebels' approach near your 



70 THE IMPORTANCE OF MILITARY ROADS. 

city. The spirit and resolution with which you exert your- 
selves is very commendable, and I hope will contribute to 
disappoint the Rebels of any design they may have formed 

against you / cannot follow them, the way they 

may probably take being impassable for Artillery 

but I hope to meet them in Lancashire, and make them repent 
of their rashness. ... I wish you all imaginable success, 

And am, Gentlemen, your 

Most obedient humble servant, 

George Wade/ 

Thus, for want of a military road across the Isthmus, 
the importance of which had been perceived by the 
Romans sixteen centuries previously, the safety of 
the kingdom was perilled, and a hostile force per- 
mitted to pour itself into the heart of England. 
After such terrible warnings, government at last 
interfered, and an act of Parliament was passed 
which set forth in the preamble : — 

Whereas the making and keeping a free and open com- 
munication between the city of Carlisle and the town of New- 
castle-upon-Tyne, by a road for the passage of troops, horses, 
and carriages, at all times of the year, would be of great use 
and service to the public, and it hath been found by experience, 
that the want of such road, passage, and communication, hath 
been attended with great inconvenience and danger to this 
kingdom : Be it enacted, &c. 

The road now known in the district by the name 
of the Military Road was accordingly made at the 
public expense. It is not a little remarkable that 
it takes precisely the track which the engineers of 

9 Mounsey's Account of the occupation of Carlisle in 1745. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF MILITARY ROADS. 71 

Rome had so many centuries before selected. In 
the map of the Wall which accompanies this work, 
the modern military road is delineated. 

The importance of a good road, protected by 
military posts at short intervals, in securing the 
tranquillity of a turbulent district, is strikingly shewn 
in another instance. That part of the great high- 
way between Madrid and Cadiz which crosses the 
wild hills of the Sierra barrier, was formerly left to 
the robber and the wolf, without roads or villages. 
A road, admirably planned, was at length executed by 
Charles Le Maur, an able engineer in the service of 
Charles III. The task of guarding it was the diffi- 
culty next to be overcome. For this purpose, Spain, 
who had colonized the new world, and expelled her 
rich Jews and industrious Moors, was compelled to 
resort to foreign assistance. In 1768, a colony of 
Germans and Swiss settled upon the line on condi- 
tion of maintaining a constant guard/ 4 This is done 
to the present day. Several consecutive towns, such 
as Carolina, in Andalusia, are occupied by people 
speaking nothing but the German language, and 
regular patrols are constantly on the move from one 
town to another. These Germans have their land in 
better order and cultivation than the Spaniards. 
This Spanish highway, with its stations at regular 
intervals, with its foreign guards, who from genera- 
tion to generation maintain the tongue and the 
habits of their fatherland, presents too many points 

h Ford's Hand-book of Spain, 1st edition, p. 306. 



72 MILITARY ROADS. 

of resemblance to the manner in which the northern 
frontier of Roman power in Britain was defended, 
to be passed over without obtaining at least this 
brief notice. 

Gordon, in his Itinerarium Septentrionale, says, 
that two military ways belonged to the Barrier ; a 
small Military Way a little to the south of the Wall, 
and, beyond it, the Great Military Way. In addition 
to these, Horsley enumerates a third, which he calls 
the Old Military Way. Horsley conceives that the 
north rampart of the Valium constitutes the road 
which was used byAgricolaand Hadrian in transport- 
ing their troops from station to station, and that when 
Severus built the Wall, he formed a new road — the 
great military way — which pursued an independent 
course, sometimes coinciding with the old road, 
but more frequently keeping nearer to the Wall. 
That there may have been a path-way immediately 
under the Wall which went from turret to turret, on 
which the Roman sentries marched with slow and 
measured pace, when they did not choose to expose 
themselves upon the parapets of the Wall, is not 
improbable ; though we now look in vain for any 
traces of it. But that the north agger of the Vallum 
was thrown up either by Agricola or Hadrian to 
serve the purposes of a road, is a proposition too 
startling to be received even on the authority of the 
learned Horsley. In some places, indeed, it is suffi- 
ciently flattened to admit of the passage of traffic 
along it, but in the greater part of the course where 
the works of the Vallum are not under cultivation, 



THE MILITARY WAY. 73 

the rampart is too conical, too narrow, and too 
rugged, to admit of such a use. Excepting in those 
situations, where stones are mingled with the 
whole mass of the agger, it exhibits no signs of 
having been paved. 1 The manner in which all the 
ramparts of the Vallum on Tepper Moor are encum- 
bered with blocks of basalt, clearly shews, that here 
at least there has been no road. Besides, few who 
trace the lines of the Vallum from sea to sea, and 
observe their complete parallelism, will be able to 
resist the conclusion, that the whole of the works 
were contemporaneous ; whereas, Horsley's theory 
ascribes part to Agricola, and part to Hadrian : 
moreover, it may be added, that so much do the 
northern and the southernmost aggers resemble each 
other, that unbiassed observers will scarcely enter- 
tain a doubt, that they have been thrown up to 
serve a precisely similar purpose. 

Happily, there is no room for doubt respecting 
the other road, which Horsley calls Sever us' Greater 
Military Way, as in the untilled districts of the 
country it may be traced for several consecutive 
miles ; and if we receive the theory, that the Murus 
and Vallum are one work, there is no need to seek 
for any other. 

* On putting the inquiry pointedly to a person who had plough- 
ed up some portions of the Vallum in the neighbourhood of Wall- 
end, Cumberland, and who was also acquainted with the mode 
in which the Maiden-way ( a Roman road ) was formed, I was 
told that there were no traces of pavement in the Vallum. 



74 CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD. 

The Military Way is usually about seventeen 
feet wide, and is composed of rubble so arranged as 
to present a rounded surface, elevated in its centre 
a foot or eighteen inches above the adjoining 
ground. When carried along the slope of a hill, the 
hanging side is made up by large kerb-stones. In 
most places where it still remains, it is completely 
grass-grown, but may, notwithstanding, be easily dis- 
tinguished from the neighbouring ground by the colour 
of its herbage, the dryness of its substratum allowing 
the growth of a finer description of plant. For the 
same reason, a sheep- track generally runs along it. 
For the accommodation of the soldiery, the road went 
from castle to castle, and so, from station to station. 
In doing this, it did not always keep close to the 
Wall, but took the easiest path between the required 
points. In traversing the precipitous grounds be- 
tween Sewingshields and Thirlwall, the ingenuity of 
the'engineer has been severely tried; but most suc- 
cessfully has he performed his task. Whilst, as 
previously observed, the Wall shoots over the high- 
est and steepest summits, the road pursues its 
tortuous course from one platform of the rock to 
another, so as to bring the traveller from mile-castle 
to mile-castle by the easiest possible gradients. 
Often has it been my lot to notice how naturally, to- 
wards the close of a fatiguing day's march, the less 
zealous of our exploring party, more anxious to se- 
lect an easy track than to keep close companionship 
with the Wall, have, most unconsciously, pursued 
the route of the Roman way. But, notwithstanding 
all the art of the engineer, the steepness of the road 



ADDITIONAL ROAD. 75 

in some places is such, that most of our modern 
carmen, with all their boasted skill, would be 
greatly puzzled if required to traverse it with a 
waggon laden with military stores.* 

Although the road now described has probably 
been the only carriage-way between the two great 
lines of fortification, another, situated to the south 
of them, has afforded direct communication between 
some of the inland stations. From Cilurnum to 
Magna, the Wall forms a curved line, in order to 
gain the highest hills of the district. For the accom- 
modation of those whose business did not require 
them to call at any intermediate point, a road went, 
like the string of a bow, direct from the one station 
to the other. This road, which is shewn in Plate II., 
went near the modern village of Newburgh, where 
Roman remains are occasionally found, and passed 
by the north gate of Vindolana, Chesterholm, near 
to which a Roman mile-stone still stands. Some 
portions of the ancient pavement still remain near 
Morwood. It is probable that this Roman Military 
Way was further continued, south of the Wall, di- 
rect to Stanwix. 

If tradition is to be credited, the Romans were 
not satisfied with roads as a means of rapidly com- 

* We must not, however, pronounce a road to be impracticable, 
because now it would be thought so. A Northumberland farmer, 
speaking to me upon this subject, said he had seen roads which, 
in his neighbourhood, were regularly traversed only a century ago, 
on which no one would venture now-a-days ; * it was like 
coming down a crag-side.' He had driven through mosses in 
which the horses were commonly enveloped, but had no misgiv- 
ings so long as he could see the heads of the animals. 



76 SPEAKING TUBES IN THE WALL. 

municating information ; speaking-trumpets or pipes, 
we are told, ran along the whole length of the Wall. 
Of this, Drayton, long ago, sang in his Polyolbion — 

Townes stood upon my length, where garrisons were laid 
Their limits to defend ; and for my greater aid, 
AVith turrets I was built, where sentinels were plac'd 
To watch upon the Pict ; so me my makers grac'd 
With hollow pipes of brasse, along me still they went, 
By which they in one fort still to another sent, 
By speaking in the same, to tell them what to doe, 
And soe from sea to sea could I be whispered through. 

Sir Christopher Ridley, in his letter tells us, that — 

In this Wall was theyr a trunck of brass, or whatever kynd 
of mettal, which went from one place to another along the 
Wall, and came into the Captaynes chamber, whereat they 
had watchers for the same, and yf theyr had bene stryfe or 
business betwyxt the enemies, and that the watchmen did 
blow a horn in at the end of the truncke that came into the 
chamber, and so from one to one ; there was certayn money 
payed yearly to the mantenance of this trunck by the inhabi- 
tants theyrabout, and doith yet pay to some gentilmen in 
Northymberland, the which money is called horn-geld money/ 

Camden also refers to this carious tradition. 
Once, but only once, have I met with this story in 
my own rambles. Such myths will not long outlive 
the introduction of the electric telegraph. ' There 
are no old people upon the Wall now,' as a man of 
three-score lately said to me, when I was endeavour- 

' Hodgson, however, distinctly proves, that the cornage, or 
castle-guard rent of the North of England — originally a payment 
in lieu of cattle, and called in English, horngeld and neatgeld, 
cattle-tax, or ox-lay — has nothing whatever to do with sounding 
the war- alarm by horns. 



THE THEORY PROBABLY INCORRECT. 77 

ing to persuade him to gather up from his still more 
ancient neighbour the fire-side lore of by-gone times. 
It is curious to observe that a similar statement 
is made respecting the Barrier of the Upper Isth- 
mus. A correspondent writes — 

One old man told me, that when he was young, on digging 
through one of the wall stations — at Upper Oroy — they came 
upon stone pipes, laid horizontally in the soil, and joined at 
the ends like those for water. From the elevation of the 
place, it is quite obvious that they could not be water con- 
duits. This old person said that the idea he had heard 
4 learned people , give of these pipes, was, that they were for 
speaking through. That the pipes were found, and made of 
stone, not clay, is certain. 

Pipes of lead are occasionally met with in the ruins 
of the stations, and pipes of burnt clay are of very 
frequent occurrence. To this circumstance the tra- 
dition probably owes its rise. They are not, how- 
ever, found in the Wall, and when placed in the 
stations, seem to have served a different purpose. 
One use to which the tile-tubes have been put has 
been the transmission of warm air throughout an 
apartment. The walls of one of the chambers of the 
' baths' at Hunnum were lined with them. Others 
may have been used, especially in high situations, for 
collecting rain-water from the roofs of the dwellings, 
and conveying it to cisterns. Besides, the inutility of 
the contrivance militates against the probability of its 
adoption : the sentinels at their posts could easily 
transmit hasty intelligence from end to end, by the 
voice or by horns, without pipes imbedded in the 
Wall, which, even if constructed, would probably be 
useless for such a purpose. 



78 THE MASONRY OF THE WALL. 

This traditionary fiction is probably of more than 
mediaeval antiquity. Xiphiline, in his life of Severus, 
tells some such marvellous tale about the towers of 
Byzantium. 

A description of the Masonry of the erections 
which have passed in review before us will conclude 
this general examination of the Barrier. 

The following extract of a letter with which I have 
been favoured by Robert Rawlinson, esq., Inspector 
of the Board of Health, will form an excellent in- 
troduction to the subject. 

I have several times thought over the subject of the Roman 
Wall since I had the pleasure of seeing you. The Romans 
constructed works with many different kinds of masonry ; 
no doubt all chosen to suit the material used, the place, and 
the skill of the builders. In Rome, and Italy generally, works 
of great magnificence were constructed, when the art displayed 
was equal to the grandeur of the design. Such a work was 
the famed Arch of Trajan, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the 
Arch of Constantine, the Baths of Diocletian, and others. In 
these works, construction of the highest order was used, and 
the sculptor emulated the architect. The lettered altars and 
sculptured figures found on the line of ' the Wall' must not 
be compared with the best workmanship of Rome. 

I am quite satisfied, in my own mind, that the general 
character of the work on the Wall was adapted to suit the 
time, the country, and more especially, the labourers em- 
ployed on the work. The Wall, being a work of defence, had 
to be constructed in haste ; the country was wild, rude, and 
without roads, excepting such as the Romans caused to be 
made. This ' caused to be made 1 is I think, the key to the 

character of the masonry chosen The form of 

construction is the easiest and strongest which rude, unedu- 
cated men could accomplish ; and, with good mortar, such as 
the Romans knew so well how to make, is the kind of work 



NATIVE LABOURERS EMPLOYED. 79 

calculated to endure for centuries, as we find it has done. . . 
The works of the Wall I consider to have been chiefly con- 
structed by the natives, under the armed superintendence and 
teaching of the soldier. The Roman knew no right but that 
of the conqueror ; his object was conquest for use; use of the 
land, and the labour that was upon it. The Roman soldier 
was a fighting animal, and was so far civilized as to know 
how to make the comparative savage do his work upon his 
plan, and this was shaped to suit the labour used. Consider 
the length of the Wall, and the extent of the works upon it, 
and it will be seen that for the army to have constructed 
it, would have been to have kept them constantly working 
instead of watching and fighting. 

Some years ago I had a large quantity of heavy masonry to 
construct on one of the railways. It was not unlike the Ro- 
man Wall in character. I found a difficulty in dealing with 
the regularly educated mason, and bought several scores of 
trowels and hammers ; these I placed in the hands of un- 
educated labourers, set them to work under the superintend- 
ence of educated foremen, looking after the whole myself. 
This is a case similar to the one I have imagined for the 
great Wall; only the work my labourers performed had 
more difficulties about it than the Wall, and yet, these un- 
educated men performed the work perfectly. 7 " 

Think of the Roman bringing in at the sword's point, hun- 
dreds of captive natives, placing for the first time tools in their 
hands, indicating the work to be done, and compelling the 
trembling slaves to do it \ n 

The stones employed in building the Wall and 
stations were very carefully selected. When good 

m It must, however, be borne in mind, that even the uneducated 
labourer, in a highly civilized community, has unconsciously receiv- 
ed a considerable amount of mental training, which places him 
in a situation much superior to that of the mere savage. 

n The remainder of this valuable communication is, in order to 
avoid repetition, embodied in the subsequent account of the Ma- 
sonry of the Wall. 



80 THE QUARRIES USED. 

stones were to be had near at hand, they were taken ; 
but those of inferior quality were never used to avoid 
the labour of bringing better from a distance. In some 
parts of the line, in Cumberland especially, the stone 
must have been brought from quarries seven or eight 
miles off. A quartzose grit was generally selected 
not only on account of its hardness, but because its 
rough surface gave it a firmer adhesion to the mor- 
tar. The stone which has been used in the works 
at Wallsend is of a much coarser grit than any that 
is found in the neighbourhood. 

The quarries from which the stone has been pro- 
cured can in many instances be precisely ascertained. 
At Fallowfield, not far from Cilurnum, is an an- 
cient quarry on the face of which the words, 

[PjETRA FLA VI CARA.NTINI, 

the rock of Flavius Carantinus — are still to be traced. 
The vignette at the close of this part represents its 
present condition. On opening out, in the year 1837, 
some old quarries on the high, brown hill of Bor- 
cum, near Thorngrafton, a small copper vessel was 
found, containing a large number of coins, all of the 
upper empire. Another Roman quarry existed on 
Haltwhistle Fell. In a paper recently read before 
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
Mr. John Clayton says — ■ 

In riding over Haltwhistle Fell, before its enclosure, in 
the summer of 1844, I came upon some workmen employed 
in re-opening an old quarry. They told me they had met 
with a ' written stone 1 ; I dismounted, and climbed the face 










z^ 



INSCRIPTIONS ON THE QUARRIES. 81 

of the rock, when I found inscribed in letters clear and fresh 

LEG. VI. v. 

From its position on a wide waste, far removed from any 
abode, but in the immediate vicinity of the Eoman Wall, this 
quarry could not possibly have been used for any other pur- 
pose than to supply stones for the building of the Wall ; and 
from the freshness of the letters of the inscription, it must 
have been filled up with earth soon after the soldiers ceased 
to use it. The workmen promised to spare the ' written 
rock,' but the next time I rode that way it had been shivered 
to atoms. 

In Cumberland, there are several Roman inscrip- 
tions on the face of the ancient quarries. About a 
mile west of Birdoswald, and little more than a 
quarter of a mile south of the road, is Coome Crag, 
which, besides other markings, presents the follow- 
ing inscription — 

SE . . RVS 
At .... 

. . . VSTUS 

This perhaps may be read — Severus Alexander 
Augustus. The most remarkable of this class of 
Antiquities, however, is the t Written Rock of the 
Gelt,' near Brampton. The lithograph on the op- 
posite page is a very accurate representation of this 
curious relic of antiquity. As the scar is nearly 
perpendicular, and the river Gelt washes its base, it 
is not without some difficulty that the inquiring 
visitor can give it a satisfactory examination ; it will, 
however, well reward his exertions, and the beauty 
of the surrounding scenery will give additional zest 
to the ramble. The inscribed part of the rock is fully 

M 



82 INSCRIPTIONS ON THE QUARRIES. 

fifty feet above the water. The letters seem to have 
been made by connecting with a chisel or pick a 
number of holes drilled in the rock in the required 
order ; at all events, . N . ^~* w *» — ~ 

the terminations of mJBM)^^^dkm'£^& 



have be. ^&H^m 

thus formed. Some *&£**r^**tt 
doubt exists as to the precise reading of the inscrip- 
tion, but the general purport of it is this : — The 
vexillarii of the second legion under an optio called 
Agricola, were, in the consulship of Flavius Aper 
and Albinus Maximus fA.D. 207), employed to 
hew stone here for the Romans. It is piteous, 
when surveying so interesting a relic of antiquity, 
and one which has outlived the accidents of up- 
wards of sixteen centuries, to observe that it has 
been approached by men who cannot sympathize 
with the mighty dead, and who care not what violence 
they do to the feelings of those who can. To the 
defacement, as I believe, of some portion of the in- 
scription, the names of f. graham, w. hardcastle, 
t. Thompson, w. nelson, have been carved upon the 
rock. Notoriety is easily earned, but it is not always 
of an enviable character. 

The exterior masonry of the Wall consists, on 
both sides, of carefully squared free-stone blocks^ ; 
the interior, of rubble of any description firmly im- 

• Hodgson II. ii. 298. 

p It would be described by a modern builder as a rough block- 
ing course. 



CHARACTER OF THE FACING-STONES. 83 

bedded in mortar. The character of the facing- 
stones is peculiar, yet pretty uniform. They are 
eight or nine inches thick, and ten or eleven broad ; 
their length, which is perhaps their characteristic 
feature, not unfrequently amounts to twenty inches. 
The part of the stone exposed to the weather is cut 
across * the bait,' so as to avoid its scaling off by the 
lines of stratification ; 
the stone tapers to- 
wards the end which 
is set into the Wall, 
and has a form nearly I! 
resembling that of a||I|l 
wedge. The cut shews mffp^f - 
its usual form. Owing ^^^fc£^J 
to the extent to which 
the stones are set into the Wall, the necessity of 
bonding tiles — so characteristic of Roman masonry 
in the south of England — is altogether superseded. 
There does not appear to have been a single tile 
used in any part of the Wall. Stones of the shape 
and size which have now been described were just 
those which could be most easily wrought in the 
quarry, most conveniently carried on the backs of 
the poor enslaved Britons to the Wall, and most 
easily fitted into their bed. The uniformity in their 
appearance is such as to enable us, after a little 
practice, at once to recognize them in the churches, 
castles, farm-buildings, and fences of the district 
through which the Wall runs. 

In Cumberland, the stones are rather larger than 




84 MASONRY OF THE STATIONS. 

in the eastern portion of the line, a thickness of 
twelve inches not being uncommon, with a corres- 
ponding breadth. The blocks in the north face of the 
Wall, also, are not unfrequently larger than those in 
the south. The stones of which the walls of the sta- 
tions are composed are smaller than those of the main 
Wall. Their average thickness is from five to seven 
inches, and their breadth from six to eight. The wood- 
cut which is here introduced, depicts the junction of 







the west wall of the station of Amboglanna with the 
Wall, and well displays the different character of 
the stones used in two erections. As already 
observed, the stations appear to have been built be- 
fore the Wall, and as the necessity of the case re- 
quired that they should be run up as quickly as 
possible, a smaller class of stone was allowed to pass 
muster here than was used in the Wall. The work- 
manship also is of inferior quality. 






THE TOOLING OF THE STONES. 85 

The front of the stones, both of the Wall and sta- 
tions, is roughly ' scabbled' with the pick. In some 
parts of the line, this tooling takes a definite form ; 
when this is the case, the mark- 
ing called the diamond broaching 
is most common. Sometimes the 
stone is scored with waved lines, U 

■^-•q or with small squares, or with near- 
ly upright lines. 
The woodcuts il- 
lustrative of the 
masonry at Chester Holm, and of 
the Crypt at Hexham, to be introduced along with 
the account of these places, will exemplify some 
of these kinds of broaching. It was not until I had 
become tolerably familiar with the Wall, that my at- 
tention was called to this peculiar kind of tooling. A 
visit to Habitancum and Bremenium, where the 
stones are nearly all broached in the diamond fashion, 
induced me to inspect the Wall more narrowly in 
this respect. I have since frequently detected it, 
especially in Cumberland. It is rare in the Nor- 
thumbrian portion. Is this broaching peculiar to 
a particular legion, or to a certain period ? The 
station of Habitancum is understood to have 
been rebuilt by Caracalla — can the other stations, 
and those parts of the Wall where this kind of 
marking appears, have also undergone repair at the 
same time, or is it the work of some particular 
legion ? The same kind of broaching may be no- 
ticed in some of the stones at Chester, the Deva 



86 



MASONS MARKS. 



Icenorum of the Romans, which was for a long 
time the head quarters of the 20th legion. Though 
unable to resolve the doubt, I think that the prose- 
cution of the inquiry may lead to some worthy result. 
Cuttings resembling masons' marks occasionally 
occur. Sometimes they consist of a single or dou- 
ble stroke ; some- 
times of a diagonal 
cross, sometimes 
of a rectangular. 
The other marks which are here represented are less 
frequently met with/ 







The tenacity of the mortar which was used, forms 
an important element in the strength of the whole 
fabric. That which is in use now is generally spoiled, 
from a variety of circumstances. The prevailing 
practice is, first of all, to slack the lime by pouring 
a quantity of water upon it when lying in a heap ; 
in most cases this does not sufficiently pulverize it : 
it is then mixed with any earth bearing the least re- 
semblance to sand, and the two are worked together 
very imperfectly with a shovel. The mortar thus 
made often stands and hardens, so as to require to 
to be once and again mixed with water, and worked 



q The cuts representing these markings are transferred from my 
note book, without reference to scale. 



ROMAN MORTAR. 87 

up before it is used. It thus becomes quite im- 
poverished ; and, after all, for the convenience of 
the mason, it is employed in so dry a state that the 
stone soon takes all the moisture from it, and it be- 
comes little better than powder. The gigantic rail- 
way operations of recent times have driven men out 
of the beaten track, and compelled them afresh to 
discover the Roman method of preparing mortar. 
On the authority of engineers well acquainted with 
the Roman Wall, I am enabled to state, that the 
mortar of that structure is precisely similar to the 
grout and concrete 7 " of the railway mason of the 
present day. Specimens of the ancient and modern 
grout are before me, and there cannot be a doubt as 
to the identity of their preparation. 

The following is the mode in which the railway 
engineer prepares his mortar. The lime, in the 
state in which it comes from the kiln, is first ground 
to powder, and is then mixed with sand and gravel, 
and chippings of stone. The purposes for which 
the mortar is required indicate the coarseness and 
quantity of the intermingling gravel. When wanted 
as concrete, to form, independently of other mate- 
rials, the foundation of some heavy structure, stony 
fragments of larger size are mingled with the lime 
than when the mortar is to be used to cement chis- 
elled stones, or even than when wanted to constitute 
with rubble the interior of a wall. The mixture of 

r Concrete contains less lime, and is mixed with a smaller pro- 
portion of water than grout. It is chiefly used in large masses, 
to form an artificial foundation for a building. 



88 ROMAN MORTAR. 

pounded lime and gravel, when made, is not mingled 
with water, until the moment of its application to the 
work for which it is required, but it is then intimately 
united with an abundant quantity of it. When used 
as concrete, the mass will, in three hours, have so- 
lidity sufficient to bear the weight of a man, and in 
about three days it will have acquired a rock-like 
firmness. 

Such, doubtless, is the way* in which the mortar of 
the Roman Wall was prepared, and it would have 
this very important advantage over that generally 
used at present, that, in a very short time, the work 
would acquire a massiveness and strength, sufficient 
to resist the attacks of an enemy. The mortar of 
the Saxon and Norman periods is of the same char- 
acter. 

Occasionally, but by no means frequently, small 
pieces of charcoal are mixed with the mortar. These 
have evidently been derived from the wood used in 
burning the lime. Excepting in the buildings of 
the stations, pounded tile, so characteristic of the 
Roman mortar in the south of England, is by no 
means a common constituent of the mortar of the 
Wall. Limestone is abundant in most parts of the 
district through which the Wall passes. The Romans 
probably burnt it in 'sow kilns.' The limestone and 
fuel being arranged in alternate layers, the whole was 

s The almost entire absence of those little white lumps of lime, 
not properly mixed with sand, which are found in the imperfectly 
prepared mortar of modern times, shews that the lime must in some 
way have been crushed by rollers or beaters. 



/>l/IT£ /// 



GRBSS SEGTiS'/JiS 



Hr*>ocAi/sr mil 




FB0NT VIEWS 



srAf/o/r WALL 

dOZXDQCX : ._ 



CfiEAT /TALL 







SCALE OF 12 FEET - 

' o & *f f ? <? f iO-J£-^f 



THE MODE OF BUILDING. 89 

carefully covered with turf and ignited. This simple 
method is still much resorted to when the lime is 
wanted for farm purposes. 

Supposing the stones to be now quarried and 
squared, the lime burnt and mixed with sand and 
gravel, the next point to be attended to is the method 
of using them. The foundation has been prepared 
by the removal of the natural soil to the width of 
about nine feet. In the hill district, a very scanty 
portion of earth covers the rocks ; in the richer 
regions an excavation of from fifteen to eighteen 
inches has been made before the subsoil was reached. 
On the outer and inner margins of the ground thus 
bared, two rows of flags of from two to four inches in 
thickness, and from eighteen to twenty in breadth, 
were generally laid ; no mortar was placed under 
them/ On these lay the first course of facing- 
stones, which were usually the largest stones used 
in the structure. In higher courses the facing-stones 
are uniformly of free-stone, on the ground course 
a ' whin-stone' is occasionally introduced. The flag- 
stones of the foundation usually project from one to 
five inches beyond the first course of facing-stones, 
and these again usually stand out an inch or two be- 
yond the second course, after which, the wall is taken 

t Mr. Bell, of Irthington, tells me that in some places the found- 
ation flags of the north side point upwards, at an angle of about 
twenty degrees, caused apparently by the settling of the ponderous 
mass. In this circumstance, we have an interesting confirmation 
of the supposition that the Wall was surmounted with a parapet on 
its north side. The foundation would have settled equally if both 
sides had been burdened alike. 

N 



90 THE RUBBLE OF THE WALL. 

straight up. In some parts of the line the flag- 
stones do not appear in the foundation — the first 
course of facing-stones being laid directly upon the 
ground. In the neighbourhood of Sewingshields, 
where large tracts of the Wall have been recently re- 
moved, a careful observer informs me, that the en- 
tire foundation has for some distance been laid upon 
a bed of clay of three or four inches thick. 

One or two courses of facing-stones having been 
placed in their beds and carefully pointed, a mass of 
mortar in a very fluid state was poured into the in- 
terior of the wall, and stones of any kind or shape 
that were of a convenient size were ' puddled' in 
amongst it. Whin-stones, as being most abundant 
in the district, are generally used for the filling. 
Course after course was added, and one mass of con- 
crete imposed upon another, until the Wall reached 
the required height. When the whole was finished 
it formed a solid, compact mass, without any holes or 
crevices in the interior, and in a short time became 
as firm as the unhewn rock. 

In some parts of the line the mortar has been 
* hand-laid/ The rubble of the interior having been 
first disposed in its place, the mortar has been laid 
upon it with a trowel. In this case the mortar never 
penetrates the interstices of the mass, and does not 
make such solid masonry as the method generally 
pursued. When, however, this plan is adopted, the 
rubble stones are often laid upon their edges in a 
slanting position ; and when those of the next layer, 
as occasionally occurs, are made to lean in the op- 




THE RUBBLE OF THE WALL. 91 

posite direction, we have the kind of 
masonry represented in the adjoining 
diagram, which is appropriately call- 
ed herring-bone work. The nearest 
approach to this that I have seen upon the line of 
the Wall is at Steel-rig, and Hare-hill. In Hodgson's 
Northumberland" a section of the Wall on Walltown 
crag is given, exhibiting herring-bone masonry. In 
this instance the stones are disposed transversely to 
the Wall, at Steel-rig and Hare-hill they are dis- 
posed longitudinally ; the latter method is the easier 
of the two. 

On wavy ground the courses of the Wall follow the 
undulations of the surface, but on steep inclines 

u Part II. v. iii. p. 294. 

In some parts of the line, the joints of the Wall are at present 
filled with earthy matter instead of mortar, and it is the opinion of 
some authorities, and amongst them, the eminent architect and 
intelligent antiquary, Mr. Dobson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, that 
in these places, clay has been originally substituted for mortar. 
Very loath to suppose that the original builders of the Wall 
would leave any portion of it in so unsatisfactory a state, I 
have been in the habit of accounting for the apparent absence of 
mortar in the following way : — The upper part of the struc- 
ture having been overthrown by a ruthless enemy, and the lower 
parts covered with the fallen rubbish, the whole heap would 
speedily become coated with vegetation. Roman mortar, with all 
its tenacity, would not be able to resist the powers of vitality ; and 
the constant demands of the ferns and the foxgloves would, in the 
course of time, abstract the whole of the lime. The roots of the 
plants, by whose agency the work of abstraction had proceeded, 
yielding in due time to the process of decay, would themselves, 
in the form of vegetable earth, supply the place of the lime which 
they had withdrawn. 



92 DURABILITY OF THE STRUCTURE. 

the stones are laid parallel to the horizon. The 
Wall, in this case, must have been built up from the 
bottom of the defile, where also, in order the better 
to resist the superincumbent mass, it not unfrequent- 
ly has a greater breadth than usual. As shewing 
that different sections of the Wall have been erected 
under distinct superintendents, it may occasionally 
be observed that, whilst on one slope of a 'gap' the 
stones are laid parallel to the horizon, on the other, 
differing little perhaps in inclination, they are laid 
even with the ground. 

We must now take leave of this important part 
of our subject, the masonry of the Wall. Judging 
from those portions of it which remain, it may safely be 
asserted, that no structure can be conceived to possess 
greater strength and durability. The first time I 
happened to visit Bowness (in the year 1831), some 
portions of the Wall, seven feet high, were in the 
course of being removed ; it was found necessary to 
resort to the force of gunpowder in order to effect 
its destruction. In the substantial nature of their 
works, the Romans have left the impress of their 
own mighty minds. They built not for the day. 
They did not conceive that their existence was bound 
up in the fate of a single generation, but that it was 
spread over the destinies of succeeding ages. Their 
works contrast strongly with the efforts of some 
modern builders. The editor of the pictorial vol- 
ume, styled ' Old England/ seems, in the following 
passage, to speak from personal observation. 

Passing by the fragments of which we have spoken, we are 
under the north wall [of luchborough] — a wondrous work 



ITS EVENTUAL DECAY. 93 

calculated to impress us with a conviction that the people 
who built it were not the petty labourers of an hour, who 
were contented with temporary defences and frail resting 
places. The outer works upon the southern cliff of Dover, 
which were run up during the war with Napoleon, at pro- 
digious expense, are crumbling and perishing, through the 
weakness of job and contract, which could not endure for 
half a century. And here stand the walls of Richborough, 
as they have stood for eighteen hundred years, from twenty 
to thirty feet high, eleven or twelve feet thick at the base, 
with their outer masonry in many parts as perfect as at the 
hour when their courses of tiles and stones were first laid in 
beautiful regularity. 

If the meddling hand of man had been withheld 
from the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus, the Wall 
might have stood, even to the present hour, in al- 
most its original integrity. It is necessary to say 
' almost,' for nothing can be more correct than the 
observation of Hodgson — 

Though man has had the chief labour in effecting its de- 
struction, its whole line and all its stations, castles, and 
towers, ever since it was deserted by the Romans, have 
been incessantly suffering prostration by the hand of nature. 
The feeble roots of grasses, ferns, and shrubs, have been as- 
sisted by the more destructive wedges and levers of forest 
trees in levelling it with the ground ; and, in many places in 
the west of this county, for considerable distances together, 
the ruins that time has thrown from its brow, lie in a deep 
green mound at its feet ; and thorns, briars, hazel, and moun- 
tain ash (entwined with relentless ivy), are still, in the parts 
that remain above ground, at the labour of demolition in 
which, for the last fourteen centuries, they have been un- 
ceasingly engaged. 

In this day, when the Arabic numerals assert an in- 
fluence quite as potent as that which the lictors' rods 



94 MONEY VALUE OF THE BARRIER. 

obtained in ancient Rome, the inquiries may not be 
destitute of interest — What amount of labour was 
involved in the construction of the Barrier, in what 
time could it be accomplished, and what, at the pre- 
sent value of labour and materials, would be the cost 
of its construction ? 

The Wall is sixty-eight miles long ; granting that it was 
only sixteen feet high, but had a continuous thickness of 
eight feet, we have 1,702,115 cubic yards of masonry, to say 
nothing of stations, mile-castles, and turrets. 

Twelve shillings per cubic yard is as near as may be the 
present value of masonry, such as that of which the Roman 
Wall consists — the cost of this part of the structure would 
therefore be 1,021,269^. 

Taking into account that the labour was forced, each cubic 
yard of the Wall would, at the least, require, in quarrying 
the stone, its carriage to the Wall, its setting, and other 
operations, one entire day's exertions of one man. In this 
way we have 1,702,115 days' labour in the stone Wall. 

Taking the north fosse at the dimensions already given, its 
excavation would involve the removal of 5,585,072 cubic 
yards. A modern excavator, stimulated by pay proportioned 
to his work, enjoying food, and raiment, and shelter, such as 
the ancient Briton was a stranger to, and possessing the ad- 
vantage of good tools, and good organization, can remove the 
enormous quantity of twenty cubic yards of earth per day. 
The labourer, driven to his ungrateful task by a Roman task- 
master, and compelled to support himself as best he might, 
and to labour with tools of the rudest construction, would 
not accomplish the half of this task ; the removal of eight 
yards per diem would probably be an average day's work. The 
excavation of the north fosse would thus, under these circum- 
stances, involve 698,134 days' labour. At the present time, 
when twenty cubic yards may be removed per man in a day, 
and when a day's wages may be set down at half-a-crown, the 
whole cost of the excavation of the fosse would be 34,906V. 



TIME REQUIRED FOR ITS CONSTRUCTION. 95 

In this estimate no account has been taken of the increased 
labour occasioned by cutting through the rocks that are some- 
times met with. The entire absence of the ditch, however, in 
the hilly district, compensates for this omission. 

The fosse of the Vallum is rather less than that of the 
Wall. Making a deduction of one-third on this account, and 
supposing that the distance which the Vallum falls short of 
the Wall at each extremity, makes amends for the increased 
labour of cutting through the rocky ground, we have 3,723,382 
cubic yards to be removed, involving 465,422 days of forced 
labour. The whole could now be done for the sum of 
23,271/. No account is taken of the labour expended in 
raising the earthen ramparts, or the cost of their construc- 
tion, for the reason, that the removal of the earth from the 
fosse implied its being deposited somewhere ; no place would 
be more convenient for this purpose than the mounds of the 
rampart. 

Adding together these results, we find that the cost of the 
Wall and its north fosse would be 1,056,175/, and that the 
cost of the Vallum, added to this would form a total of 
1,079,446/. The number of days' labour involved in the 
Wall would be 2,400,249, and, adding to this, that of the 
Vallum, we have for the whole 2,865,671 days' labour. 

The largest number of men that we can conceive to be 
brought to bear at once upon the Wall, including such of the 
Roman troops as could be spared from military operations, 
is ten thousand. This body, at the rate already supposed, 
would, by continuous labour, execute the Wall and its 
ditch in 240 days, and, taking the Vallum also into account, 
in 286 days. In the exposed district over which the Wall 
runs, it is not probable that the weather would allow of the 
work being pursued during more than two hundred days in 
the year. If, in addition to this, we make deductions for 
the chances of war, two years may be stated as the shortest 
time in which the whole of the works could be executed. 

A recent writer, who, in a work denominated ' A 
History of the Picts or Romano-British Wall,' adopts 



96 WALLS NOT UNWORTHY OF ROME. 

the notion of Gildas, that the stone wall was built, 
not by Hadrian or Severus, but by the trembling 
Britons on their abandonment by the Romans, sup- 
ports his opinion by denominating the work an un- 
Roman-like defence, and argues that men who were 
unaccustomed to fear, would not seek the assistance 
of a wall and a ditch. However regardless of life 
the Romans may, in the abstract, have been, they 
knew how to economize their resources. In the bat- 
tle of the Grampians, Agricola withheld his legion- 
ary soldiers, and made use only of his auxiliary 
troops. He could better afford to expend the one 
than the other. As well might a warrior despise 
the protection of a helmet or a shield, as refuse the 
defence of a stone wall. 

The best refutation, however, of this theory, is the 
fact, that in other places the Romans, about the same 
period, raised similar barriers. At two of these we 
shall glance, before beginning a detailed inspection 
of the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. The com- 
parison will probably afford valuable instruction. 

The Devil's Wall, in Germany, bears many marks 
of resemblance to the English Wall. It seems"' to 
consist of the Pfahl, a mound of stakes, or vallum, 
ascribed to Hadrian, and a stone wall which is said to 

w The only source of information which I have upon the sub- 
ject of this wall, is a translation of an extract from a pamphlet by 
Professor Buchner, of Regensburg, in the first volume of the 
< Archseologia iEliana.' The precise relation which the Pfahl bears 
to the stone Wall does not very clearly appear from this paper ; 
to all appearance, however, the analogy between the German and 
English barriers is very close. 



THE GERMAN BARRIER. 97 

have been executed by some of his successors. The 
works extended westwards from Regensburg [Ratis- 
bon] on the Danube, towards the sources of that river, 
a distance of nearly two hundred miles. They formed 
the boundary of the Roman empire in those parts 
where the Danube was not broad and deep enough 
to be of itself a sufficient protection. A deep trench 
ran along the Wall on its northern side, and along 
its southern face roads and camps were formed. At 
regular intervals of one mile, towers of observation 
were placed of the same size, though, being circular, 
not of the same form as the mile-castles on the 
English Wall. It is not possible, from the present 
remains, to determine with certainty the height or 
breadth of the Wall. ' I found it in many places,' 
says Professor Buchner, ' from four to six, in others 
from ten to twelve, feet broad. We may therefore 
perhaps conclude, that its medium breadth was from 
six to seven feet, and that its height, as correspond- 
ing to this breadth, may have been from eighteen 
to twenty-four feet.' The works have the same 
tendency to advance in a straight line as those of 
our own Barrier. ' No mountain is so high, no abyss 
so steep, no wood so thick, no morass so profound, 
through which it does not penetrate.' ' The whole 
line of the fortification has been laid down and exe- 
cuted according to a well-digested plan.' 

Graham's Dike, so denominated probably from 
the Celtic words grym, strength, and diog, a ditch, 
is a barrier which fortified the Upper Isthmus of 
Britain. It extended from Borrowstoness, on the 

o 



98 THE ANTONINE WALL. 

Firth of Forth, to West Kilpatrick, on the river 

Clyde, a distance of about twenty-seven English 

miles. It was constructed by Lollius Urbicus in the 

reign of Antoninus Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian. 

The following succinct account of this important 

design is taken from the ' Caledonia Romana,' a work 

of great ability, by the late lamented Mr. Robert 

Stuart, of Glasgow : — 

This great military work consisted, in the first place, of an 
immense fosse or ditch — averaging about forty feet in width, 
by some twenty in depth — which extended over hill and plain, 
in one unbroken line, from sea to sea. Behind this ditch, on 
its southern side, and within a few feet of its edge, was raised 
a rampart of intermingled stone and earth, strengthened by 
sods of turf, which measured, it is supposed, about twenty 
feet in height, and twenty-four in thickness at the base. This 
rampart, or agger, was surmounted by a parapet, behind 
which ran a level platform, for the accommodation of its de- 
fenders. To the southward of the whole was situated the 
Military Way — a regular causewayed road, about twenty- 
feet wide — which kept by the course of the Wall at irregular 
distances, approaching, in some instances, to within a few 
yards, and in others receding to a considerable extent. Along 
the entire line there were established, it is believed, nineteen 
principal stations or forts. The mean distance between each 
may be stated at rather more than two English miles. Along 
these intervals were placed many smaller castella, or watch- 
towers. While the continuous rampart seems to have been 
little more than a well-formed earthen mound, it is probable 
that many, if not all, of the stations, were either rivetted 
with stone or entirely built of that material. In some places, 
it would even appear that the Vallum itself had been raised 
upon a stone foundation — probably in situations where the 
ground was low and marshy, and where it was found neces- 
sary to form drains beneath the works, to prevent the 
accumulation of water on their anterior side. 



MUTUAL SUPPORT OF THE BARRIERS. 99 

The Barrier of the Upper Isthmus never consist- 
ed of more than a single line of fortification. This 
circumstance may seem to militate against the view 
that we have taken of the double line of the Southern 
Barrier. If in the one case the conquered tribes to 
the south were disregarded, why should they not be so 
in the other also? We shall not, however, greatly err 
if we regard the Antonine Wall as but an advanced 
work of Hadrian's entrenchment. On this view of 
the matter, the difficulty is at once removed, for the 
Lower Barrier would be a sufficient security against 
danger in the rear. Certain it is, that the southern line 
was not abandoned when the other was constructed. 
Several altars have been found on the Lower Barrier 
inscribed with the name Antoninus Pius.* A slab 
bearing the names of the consuls Sex. Sulpicius 
Tertullus, and C. Tineius Sacerdos, elicits the fol- 
lowing remarks from judge Cay y : — 

These were consuls in A.D. 158 ; consequently, we have 
undeniable authority to assert, that Antoninus Pius re- 
paired Hadrian's Vallum (or, at least, the stations per lineam 
Valli), as well as built one between the Scottish Firths. This 
stone is certainly most valuable, as it clearly proves, that 
though Antoninus extended the boundary so far north, he 
could not, or durst not, trust the Mseatse, but thought himself 
obliged to keep up the southern pretenturse, lest they should, 
on any disturbance, join the Caledonians. 

Such prudence is characteristic of good general- 
ship. Napoleon never made an important move 
without first resolving what to do in case of failure. 

* Hodg. Xorth'd. II. iii. 276. v Ibid. 284. 



100 THE BARRIERS IN RELATION TO THE RIVERS. 

Assuredly Hadrian did not act in a manner unbe- 
coming a Roman, when, at the same time that he 
shewed a stony front to the Caledonians, he placed 
an earthen rampart between himself and the doubtful 
fidelity of his southern subjects. 

The position of the Barriers of the Lower and of 
the Upper Isthmus, and of the Devil's Wall, in re- 
lation to the rivers in their vicinity, requires some 
remark. The Tyne in the eastern, and the Irthing 
and the Eden in the western part of the island, are 
uniformly to the south of the English Wall. A simi- 
lar remark applies to the Devil's Wall, in Germany, 
which is drawn along the northern shore of the Danube, 
the side exposed to the enemy. The Clyde, and 
its feeders, are to the south of the Antonine Wall. 
Why did the Romans not avail themselves of the 
natural trenches of these river-basins? The valley 
of the Tyne is peculiarly broad and deep. A chain 
of camps on its southern bank, where the mediaeval 
castles afterwards stood, would alone, we might sup- 
pose, have bid defiance to the passage of any foe. 

A similarity of practice in these cases favours the 
belief that important objects were to be accomplish- 
ed by it. What are they ? — 

By erecting a chain of posts on the high grounds 
to the north of the rivers, a better observation of the 
movements of the enemy was obtained than would 
otherwise have been practicable. In the days of 
Roman occupation, large tracts of country, the banks 
of rivers especially, would be covered with forests. 
The conquerors, unless they had secured the enemy's 



IMPORTANCE OF RIVER BASINS. 101 

side of the river-basins, would have been perpetually- 
subject to unexpected attacks. They could not be 
so easily taken by surprise on the high grounds of 
the northern slopes. 

Probably the value of the land on the margin of the 
rivers, was an additional motive for the course pur- 
sued. The alluvial soil by a river's side is usually the 
most fertile portion of a country. The banks of the 
Tyne and the Eden are peculiarly productive. 
Without a wall the enemy would have had undis- 
puted possession of the slopes which enjoyed the 
finest aspect — that to the south — while those on the 
other side would have been subject to frequent depre- 
dation. This consideration is of the more importance, 
as the lands of the district were given to the soldiers 
who garrisoned the frontier, as a means of securing 
their fidelity. 

So far from the importance of the natural bound- 
ary, the river, being overlooked by the Romans, 
I am disposed to regard the works on its north- 
ern bank as a proof of the value which they set 
upon it. The natural and the artificial barriers 
were probably regarded by them as but separate 
members of one complete fortification. In case of a 
rush of invasion from the North, the Wall would arrest 
the attack and the river entirely repel it. The stone 
and earth works would impede the progress of a foe, 
however formidable, and give time for the formation 
of an army on the southern bank of the stream. It 
was, moreover, c political in the Romans,' as Stukely 
remarks, 2 ' to leave on the north side of the Wall 
z Iter Boreale, 67. 



102 



PRUDENCE OF THE ROMANS. 



that huge tract of waterless and dismal moor, a great 
barren solitude, where in some places you may 
walk sixty miles endwise, without meeting with a 
house or tree ; to ride is impracticable. Thus, as 
much as in them lay, without the horror of barbarity, 
did they remove the barbarians from their territories ; 
whilst within the Wall, either naturally or by their 
industry, all things smiled like the garden of Eden.' 

The vast hosts which the Caledonians were able 
to muster rendered all these precautions necessary ; 
and it was, moreover, becoming in the Romans — a 
generation of warriors the mightiest the world has 
ever seen — to plant the foot firmly on any land they 
thought fit to occupy. Assuredly they did so in the 
Lower Isthmus of Britain. 




Written Rock, at Fallow-field. 



rfiiB 



mm 



'?m 



%ty 3&oman Barrier of tyt 



PART III 



LOCAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS. 




ITTLE did the Romans 
dream, when they fix- 
ed the eastern termi- 
nation of their Wall 
at Segedunum, of the 
world-wide celebrity 
)j which its subsequent 
cognomen— Wallsend 
— would attain. Even 
Horsley, writing in 
1731, and in what he lovingly terms 'my own 
county,' did not foresee the extensive mining opera- 
tions which shortly after his day were to take place 



He who has the heart of a pilgrim ' per lineam Valli,' will not 
fail to accompany the author, while he attempts, at the very com- 



104 SEGEDUNtTM. 

in its immediate vicinity. In order to mark the site 
of the station, he fixes upon Cousin's House, which 
is at some distance from the spot, whereas, the 
principal shaft of the celebrated mine is close 
beside its western rampart. 

mencement of his local peregrination, to pay a tribute of respect 
to three departed worthies who made the Wall their especial study. 
John Horsley was the first and mightiest of the three — is it too 
much to say that he was the father of the science of Archseology ? 
Born in an unknown locality of this county, receiving his ele- 
mentary education at Newcastle, his academical at Edinburgh, he 
spent the greater portion of his life as the pastor of a Presbyterian 
congregation in Morpeth. His tastes, and great familiarity with 
the classics, induced him to devote his leisure hours to the study of 
the antiquities of Northumberland. Had he conceived that the 
Britannia Romana would have cost him one- third of the time 
which its execution required, the world would never have seen it. 
Having embarked in the undertaking, he felt it his duty to make 
it as good as he could. How severe his toils, how great his pecu- 
niary sacrifices, how ardent his aspirations after emancipation from 
his self-imposed task, in order that he might entirely devote himself 
to his sacred calling, who shall tell ? The thoughtthat his flock might 
eventually be no losers, that his family and his own fair fame might 
gain by the enterprise, buoyed him up in his course. On 2 Jan. 
1731-2, he put the finishing stroke to his labours, the dedication of 
his work bearing that date. Now he might hope to reap the fruits 
of his toils — the enjoyment of rest, such as the wearied only know, 
the congratulations of friends, the approbation of the learned, the 
replenishment of his exhausted means. None of these fruits he 
enjoyed. He can scarcely have had the satisfaction of casting his 
eyes upon a completed copy of his work. The ink of his dedica- 
tion was hardly dry when he was summoned to the unseen world. 
Respecting him who recorded the mighty doings of the Romans in 
Britain, the parish clerk of Morpeth made the following entry in 
the church -yard calendar : — Buried, 

< 1731-2, Jan. 15, Mr. John Horsley.' 
* Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' As regards the honours or 



SEGEDUNUM. 105 

SEGEDUNUM, Wallsend, is admirably selected 
as the site of a Roman station, and as the eastern 
terminus of the Wall. Without being so much 
elevated as to give it a painful exposure to the 
blasts of the north and of the east, it commands a 

enjoyments of this world, he died an utterly unrequited man. 
Even of that bubble, posthumous fame, an attempt was made to 
rob him. Warburton, in his Vallum Romanum, transfers Hors- 
ley c in bulk ' to his pages — he even copies, without alteration, the 
opinions which Horsley expresses in the first person. The honest 
Hutton often quotes the 'judicious Warburton,' little knowing 
whose the feathers are which he so justly admires. The precise spot 
where his remains rest is unknown. He whose lot it was to in- 
terpret, after the lapse of many centuries, the throbbings of natural 
affection over departed relatives in the heathen breast, had no 
one to erect over him, though a Christian minister, a memorial 
that should outlive a single century. Even the parish clerk, in 
his attachment to the altar and the throne, denies him, in the 
sepulchral register, the title which courtesy, at least, would 
have accorded him. Requiescat in pace ! 

The Rev. Anthony Hedley, was also a native of Nothumber- 
land ; he was a man of literary tastes, and considerable antiquarian 
acquirements. He entered public life as curate of Hexham, where 
his preaching was that of a Boanerges. He subsequently held 
some temporary appointments at Whelpington, Newcastle, and 
Whitfield. Having, however, actively espoused the cause of that 
political body, who, until lord Grey became premier, had no 
patronage to bestow, it was his lot to sigh in vain for a summons 
to active occupation in the work which he loved. When the 
party whom he had long and conscientiously served, came into of- 
fice, neglect was his portion. One of the original members of the 
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he did much to 
promote the study of primaeval archaeology in the fruitful region 
traversed by the Wall. Biased by his taste for antiquities, he was 
led to select, as his abode for life's evening, the beautiful valley 

P 



106 SEGEDUNUM. 

view, in every direction, of the adjacent country. 
The ground, in front of it, slopes rapidly down to 
the river's brink, and has a full exposure to the 
mid-day sun. The beauty of its situation is con- 
siderable now ; what must it have been when aged 
oaks crowned the contiguous heights, and the Tyne 
rolled by in the brilliancy and exuberance of its 
youth ! 

Eastward of Wallsend, the river acquires a suffi- 
cient magnitude to make it a barrier quite formidable 
enough to prevent the ready passage of a foe, and 
to render the erection of a wall unnecessary. Fre- 
quently, however, would it be needful for the watch- 
ful eye of the Roman prefect at Segedunum to 

of the Chineley Burn. The rural hall arose at his bidding, nearly 
every stone of which was chiseled by Roman hands. The miliary 
which told to Hadrian's soldiers that another mile had been 
traversed, stood by his barn. The station of Vindolana was in 
his grounds — many beautiful altars and other important reliques 
had he dug out of it — he could tell where the preetorium stood, 
where the standards were deposited, where every soldier slept. 
Scarcely were all the arrangements for his comfortable residence 
at Chesterholm made, when death seized him as its victim. Im- 
prudently superintending, whilst somewhat indisposed, the exhu- 
mation of an urn in the station, his mortal part was a few days 
afterwards deposited in the church-yard at Beltingham. He died 
in 1835, and his beautiful abode has since remained desolate. 

Westmoreland has the honour of giving birth to the Rev. John 
Hodgson, but Northumberland enjoyed the advantage of his 
youthful and maturer labours. Successively curate of Sedgefield, 
Lanchester, and Heworth, and afterwards vicar of Kirkwhelpington, 
he was shortly before his death promoted to the living of Hartburn. 
He was the chief founder of the Society of Antiquaries of New- 



WALLSEND. 107 

traverse the expanse which lay between him and 
the sea. This he could easily do. The station 
stands upon a bend of the river, formed by two of 
the longest ' reaches' which it makes in the whole of 
its course. The Long-reach extends downwards 
as far as the high end of South Shields, and the 
Bill-reach stretches nearly two miles up the water. 
In both directions, therefore, any operations con- 
ducted on the river would be easily discerned from 
the station. 

Although it was not thought requisite to extend 
the Wall further along the northern bank of the 
Tyne than Wallsend, special precautions were taken 
to secure the mouth of the river from hostile occu- 



castle-upon-Tyne, and the chief contributor to its transactions. 
His tastes led him to contemplate, and an honourable desire to 
make provision for the education and settlement of his family, in- 
duced him to begin, a history of Northumberland. Seldom have 
laudable designs been so signally defeated. He lived but to com- 
plete a part of his task ; his health failed, and his mind gave way 
under his excessive labours. His fortunes were not bettered by 
them ; « I have lived ' said he, e to see that works of this kind are 
not suited to the times I live in, perhaps to any time. It is not 
profitable to me — it is not suited to my profession — I ought to do 
my duty in my profession — to take up night and day to do it well. 
Well ? no ; but as well as good intentions, holy zeal, every 
thought and faculty of my mind fully exerted, could do it.' Hodg- 
son paid great attention to the Wall, and its antiquities. The last 
published portion of his history contains a vast mass of learned 
information upon the subject. It is perhaps enough for the present 
author to say, that had not Horsley and Hodgson cleared the way 
before him, he would never have adventured to write a book upon 
the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. Though he cannot be a Horsley 
or a Hodgson, he hopes he will never prove a Warburton. 



108 SEGEDUNUM. 

pation. A camp at Tynemouth, and another at 
North Shields, were garrisoned by troops from the 
head quarters at Segedunum ; these frowned over 
the northern shore of the estuary. A subsidiary 
station at TyneLawe, near South Shields, and another 
at Jarrow, guarded its southern bank, whilst one at 
Wardley, opposite Wallsend, would effectually sup- 
port, on that side of the river, the operations of the 
garrison in the principal encampment. All of these 
will be examined afterwards. 

The evidence by which Wallsend is identified 
with the Segedunum of the Notitia is not so direct 
as could be desired. First in the list of officers 
' along the line of the Wall/ the Notitia places the 
Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lergi at Segedu- 
num. Now, no inscription has been found in Britain 
mentioning the Lergi, but inscriptions have been 
found which mention the second and fourth cohorts 
of the Lingones ; on the other hand, the Lingones 
never occur in the Notitia, but the cohorts of the 
Lergi which are there recorded, are the second and the 
fourth. This being the case, and the difference in the 
form of the Latin words Lergorum and Lingonum 
being very slight, the probability is, as Mr. Thomas 
Hodgson, in an able paper in the Archseologia iEliana, 
conjectures, that some early transcriber of the 
Notitia has written the one in mistake for the 
other. Within the precincts of Tynemouth Castle, 
in the year 1783, an altar was found, which formed 
part of the foundation of an ancient church. It is 
now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries 



WALLSEND. 109 

of London. The adjoining wood-cut accurately de- 




lineates it. The inscription may be read as follows : 



[[OVI] 0[PTIMO] MfAXIMO] 

AEL[IVS] RVFVS 
PRAEF[ECTVS] COH[ORTIS] 
IIII LINGO 

NVM. 



To Jupiter the best and greatest, 

iElius Rufus, 

The Prefect of Cohort the 

Fourth of the Lingo- 

nes. 



On the supposition, which is a natural one, that 
Tynemouth was a station subsidiary to Wallsend, 
this altar gives satisfactory proof that the first of 
the stations at the eastern extremity of the Wall is 
the Segedunum of the Notitia. On some occasion, 
when the prefect who commanded the estuary of the 
Tyne, was on a visit to this out-post, he erected to 
Jupiter, whom he ignorantly worshipped, the altar 
which still remains. 



110 ORIGIN OF THE NOTITIA NAMES. 

The etymology of the names of the stations is an 
interesting, but intricate subject. The new occupants 
of a country usually adopt the appellations bestowed by 
their predecessors upon its more prominent features. 
Thus, though in England the ancient Briton, Roman, 
Saxon, Norman, and modern English, have succes- 
sively prevailed, many of our most familiar rivers, as 
the Thames, the Isis, and the Avon, have borne, as 
Whitaker shows, through each successive change, 
their present names. The appellations of cities are 
much more variable, but some even of these are indel- 
ible. Strange as a painted Briton of the first century 
would feel himself in the streets of modern London, 
its name would fall on his ear as an accustomed sound. 

The Romans were a minority in Britain ; and, in 
their intercourse with the natives, would be compelled 
to adopt the nomenclature of the people. We may, 
therefore, expect to find that the names of the sta- 
tions are essentially British, though somewhat altered 
by the imperfect pronunciation of the strangers, and 
by a ceaseless effort to recast the words in the mould of 
their own tongue. The change most frequently in- 
troduced consists in the addition of Latin termina- 
tions. The names given by the aborigines of a 
country are usually descriptive of the object to which 
they are attached : they are epithets changed into pro- 
per names. Accordingly, we find that the names of the 
stations, so far as they have been deciphered by the 
assistance of those modern representatives of the 
ancient British tongue — the Gaelic and native Irish 
— are descriptive of the locality. 



ETYMOLOGY OF SEGEDUNUM. Ill 

Segedunum is an unfortunate example to begin 
with. There was a Segedunum in Aquitania, the mod- 
ern Rodez — a Segodunum in Northern Germany, the 
modern Siegen. The camp at Wallsend may have 
received its name from some resemblence to one of 
these. Still the question remains, What was the 
common origin of the term P Wallis thinks it is 
derived from the Latin seges, corn, and the Celtic 
dunum, a hill ; but, excepting in extreme cases, an 
etymology dependent upon two languages can scarcely 
be admitted. A more consistent derivation is found 
in the Celtic sech, (the root of the French sec) dry, 
and dun, a hill. The final syllable is a Latin affix. 
The elevation of the spot, and its rapid slope to the 
river, would render it comparatively free from 
moisture.* 

Whatever doubt may hang over the Roman name 
of this station, none attaches to the modern — Wallsend 

Abillo 

Dicitur, seternumque tenet per saecula nomen. 

The number of places along the course of the Wall 
which have derived their names from this great work, 
is very striking, and proves the importance that has 

b Brand conceives that Segedunum may be derived from 
the Saxon secy, a sedge or flag, and dun, which is an iVnglo-Saxon, 
as well as a Celtic word ; this wonld give, as its meaning — the hill of 
sedge. If we can suppose that any of the Germanic hordes had 
obtained so complete a settlement here, as to give them the power 
of forming a local vocabulary in accordance with their own lan- 
guage prior to the Roman occupation of this post, the Saxon origin 
of the term is by no means improbable. In no part of England 



1 12 VILLAGE OF WALLSEND. 

been attached to it. Without examining a map, and 
simply drawing upon the resources of my own memory 
and note-book, the following examples occur : In 
Northumberland, we have Wallsend, Walker, Wall- 
knoll in Newcastle, Benwell, Wallbottle, Heddon- 
on-the-Wall, Welton, Wall-houses, Wall, Walwick, 
Shields-on-the- Wall, Wall-mill, Walltown, Thirl wall, 
and Wall-end ; in Cumberland, we have Walton, 
Wallbours, Old- Wall, High Wallhead, Middle Wall- 
head, Low Wallhead, Wallby, and Wallfoot. 

The present village of Wallsend is about half a 
mile distant from the station, a little to the north of 
the turnpike road. It is, however, of modern erection- 
Brand says that ' an old woman, still living, remembers 
when the site of the present Wallsend was an empty 
field.' The traditional account of its erection is, 
that a plague having desolated the original town, 
which stood upon the site of the camp, and was 
built out of its ruins, the terrified inhabitants forsook 
the spot, and sought shelter in the new locality. 

A person unaccustomed to examine the remains 
of Roman forts, will probably be disappointed to find 
the ramparts of Wallsend so feebly marked ; but one 
who brings to the task a practised eye, will give a 
good account of the land, and express his surprise 

was an early settlement more likely to take place than on the 
eastern coast of Northumberland, but, after all, we must probably 
assign a later date to the first arrival of our Gothic forefathers. 
If a Saxon derivation be at all admissible, another might be sug- 
gested: sige is the Anglo-Saxon for victory, and tun is town — the 
town of victory — an appropriate name for a station occupied either 
by Roman or Saxon forces. 



/>LA te /y. 




\ Jwot/stfr <fi A r . .S7i*W,/. r If.azZHMj 



f 



(ifrrgenzlTn 



4 





a7it& i7i& !PaZfc/7n< 



*ao. LIT MO. /VtvreASTt,*- 



WALLSEND. 113 

that so much of the camp is left. The station, it 
must be remembered, is situated on the edge of a 
river the scene of an immense commerce, in the 
vicinity of a large town, and in the centre of a great 
mining district. 

The station of Segedunum has occupied an area 
of three acres and a half. The Wall, coming from 
the west, has struck the north cheek of its western 
gateway, and there terminated. The walls of the 
station would be a sufficient protection to the garrison 
against attack from the north or other quarters, but 
to prevent the enemy getting within the barrier, by 
passing between the station and the river* the east- 
ern wall of the station has been brought down to the 
river, and continued into it to low-water mark. 

In tracing the outline of the station it will be well 
to begin at Carville-hall, the 'Cousins-house,"* of 

c This statement I make on the authority of the late Mr. Buddie, 
who said, as I remember, that in his youth he had seen the stones 
extending far into the river. 

d This place derived its earlier name from being the property, 
and perhaps the suburban residence of John Cosyn, a worthy 
alderman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the seventeenth century. 
About 1740, sir Robert Carre, a London knight, and draper, 
but also, it is thought, a burgess of the northern metropolis, 
bought Cosyn' s house at Wallsend, and thenceforward designated 
it Carre-ville. The present mansion is, with some little impropriety, 
called Carville-M/. 

When I began my inquiries at Wallsend, I had much difficulty 
in ascertaining which was Cousin's-house. One man told me he 
had lived all his life in Wallsend — sixty years — and had never 
heard of it. Our books still continue to copy from Horsley, and 
to give us the out-of-date information that the Wall began at 
Cousin's-house, 

Q 



114 SEGEDUNUM. 

Horsley. Between it and the Gosforth ' waggon- 
way,' the porth fosse of the Wall is very distinct, a 
gravelled path, for some distance, occupies the site 
of the Wall.- Behind the Methodist-chapel the 
ditch may still be traced, but after that it disappears. 
The row of houses between the chapel and the sta- 
tion is manifestly very close upon the line of the 
Wall. The old engine-house, which Brand tells us 
was six yards north of the Wall, still remains. 
The whole of the ramparts of the northern section of 
the station are gone ; the walls of the southern por- 
tion of it may, however, be traced rising in the form 
of a grassy mound above the general level of the 
soil. The continuation of the eastern wall of the 
station down the bank to the river's edge, may also 
be recognised, not only by the gentle mound which 
it forms, but by the fragments of Roman mortar, 
Roman tile, and coarse-grained sandstone, not proper 
to the district, which may be picked up on it. This 
river- wall joins the Tyne at the spot where a jetty 
has recently been formed. Numerous swellings in 
the ground to the south, and to the east of the station, 
indicate the ruins of suburban buildings. These 
seem to have been invariable concomitants of 

e In districts where the Wall has been levelled with the earth, a 
foot-path or bridle-road frequently indicates its course. When 
land was of less value than it is now, the farmers, who appropriated 
the stones of the Wall to their own use, were not at the trouble to 
remove its foundation. The stony track, however, afforded a firm 
road, and when the increased value of the ground rendered it worth 
while to bring the whole into cultivation, a right of way had, in 
many instances, been established. 



WALLSEND. 115 

stationary camps. Officers wishing to have more 
space than the fort allowed, the families of the 
soldiers, the camp followers, and others, who sought 
the protection of a fortified post, would occupy such 
dwellings. The sunny exposure of the streets on the 
south of the camp, would render them peculiarly 
acceptable to the Lingones who came from that part 
of Gaul where the Meuse and Marne have their 
source/ The fosse which protected the eastern 
rampart, is still distinctly visible, and generally con- 
tains a little water. The accompanying lithographic 
view is given chiefly with the intention of showing 
the extensive command which the station had of the 
river below it; the south-east angle of the rampart 
may be traced upon it, as well as the fosse beyond. 
The altar, represented in the foreground, was found 
in the vicinity of the station a few years ago, and is 
still preserved upon the spot, it is without an in- 
scription, but has a hole drilled through its cen- 
tre, which it had when found. An extensive 
natural valley protected the western side of the 
camp, which some years ago was partially filled 
up, in order to form the waggon-way. The house 
occupied by the late Mr. John Buddie, the eminent 
colliery viewer, is just within the western wall of the 
station, and that, formerly occupied by Mr. John 
Reay, is just within the eastern rampart. The 
waggon- way leading from the Wallsend pit seems to 
enter the station by its western portal, and to leave it 

' HodgsoD, II. iii. 169. 



116 SEGEDUNUM. 

by its eastern, and thus exactly traverses the via 
principalis of the camp. The only trace of the 
northern division of the station that remains, consists 
of the road which has apparently led from Segedu- 
num to the out-posts at Blake-chesters and Tyne- 
mouth. This causeway extends from the station to 
the north of the Shields railway; it is formed of a mass 
of rubble, about two feet deep, and is eleven yards 
wide. It cannot be ploughed, and nothing that 
requires any depth of earth will grow upon it. 

Numerous proofs of Roman occupation have been 
discovered at various times in the station and its 
vicinity. Brand says, ' I found a fibula, some Roman 
tegulae, and coins, a ring, &c. Immense quantities 
of bones and teeth of animals are continually turning 
up. Stones with inscriptions were found, but the 
incurious masons built them up again in the new 
works of the colliery/ Dr. Lingard was told, that in 
digging a cellar under the dining room of Mr. Bud- 
die's house, a deep well was found. I have been 
informed by Mr. John Reay, that another was dis- 
covered outside the station, at the spot shown on 
the plan of the station, Plate IV. A structure, which 
was conceived to be a bath, was struck upon about 
the same time, near the river's brink; it was imme- 
diately removed, but its site is marked on the 
plan. Many coins have been found, but most of 
them in a very corroded state. A beautiful piece of 
Samian ware was got in sinking the shaft of the 
colliery, which is now in possession of the Society 
of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; it is figured 
in a .subsequent Plate, 



WALLSEND TO NEWCASTLE. 117 

Leaving Wallsend, and proceeding westward, the 
Wall is chiefly to be traced by the presence of its 
north fosse. This is very distinctly marked nearly 
all the way to Byker. In front of Stote's-houses, the 
Beehouses of Horsley, it forms a pond, which is used 
for farm purposes. Some traces of the foundation 
of the Wall may be seen, but they are faint. Thirty 
years ago the Wall was standing, for a considerable 
distance, three and four feet high, covered with 
brushwood of hazel, oak, and alder. The tendency 
of the half-ruined Wall to give lodgement to the 
roots of these plants, is very remarkable ; wherever 
the Wall is undisturbed they are found, and in re- 
gions where the hazel does not occur elsewhere, as 
in the neighbourhood of Bowness, it is to be met 
with abundantly upon the Wall. 

A mound, a little more elevated than the neigh- 
bouring ground, near to Stote's-houses, points out the 
site of the first mile-castle west of Wallsend. The 
tenant of the farm told me that he had got a great 
quantity of stones from it. In Horsley's time, there 
were ' two distinct tumuli remaining near the Bee- 
houses' ; what I take to be the rudiments of them 
may yet be traced; one of them is just behind the 
stack-yard of the farm, the other, the least marked 
of the two, a little to the west of it. 

The road that is seen stretching in a straight line 
up the hill to Byker indicates the direction of the 
Wall, and though the first, it is by no means the most 
remarkable instance that we shall meet with, of the 
unflinching and straightforward tendencies of this 



118 WALLSEND TO NEWCASTLE. 

remarkable structure. The Wall stood on the south 
side of the present road. The facing-stones having 
already been removed, and it being desirable to 
have the rocky remnant entirely cleared away, the 
ground was let to parties without rent for a short 
term of years, on condition of their clearing it, and 
bringing it into cultivation. It is on this account 
that the site of the Wall and fosse, even yet, is por- 
tioned out in long narrow slips, which are, for the 
most part, used as potato gardens. 

From the top of Byker-hill, an interesting view 
is obtained of the Tyne and the numerous hives of 
busy men which bestud its banks. This would be 
an important post for the Roman soldier, who could 
easily see from it the stations on either hand — 
Segedunum and Pons ^Elii — and all that was going 
on between them. 

Between Byker and Newcastle, all traces of the 
Wall are now nearly destroyed. In 1725, it was, 
however, standing in a condition of imposing grand- 
eur, as appears from Stukeley's 4 Prospect ' of it in 
the Iter Boreale. He was induced to make this 
drawing because * the country being entirely under- 
mined' by colliery excavations, it might 'some time 
or other sink, and so disorder the track of this stately 
work.' He dreaded an imaginary evil, and over- 
looked a real one. 

The north fosse was, till recently, very distinct 
within the wall of Heaton-park ; it is now filled 
up ; many of the stones in the park- wall, are to 
all appearance, Roman. Before descending the hill, 



COURSE THROUGH NEWCASTLE. 119 

a portion of it, boldly developed, may yet be seen at 
the end of a small row of houses called Howard-street. 

At the head of the bank overlooking the Ouse- 
burn stood a mile-castle, as was usual in such situa- 
tions, to guard the pass. Two stones which, I am 
persuaded, formed part of the entrance gateway of 
this mile-tower, now stand upon the stairs leading to 
the grand entrance of the keep of the Castle of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They measure two feet by 
one, and are of the form usually employed in the 
portals of mile castles. One of them bears a rude, 
and almost unintelligible, inscription. These stones 
were found built up in a structure on the west bank 
of the Ouseburn, were thence taken to Busy Cottage, 
afterwards removed to Heaton, and finally presented 
to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne. 

The Wall crossed the Ouse-burn very near theancient 
bridge which is about a hundred and fifty yards south 
of the railway viaduct. In preparing the foundations 
of Mr. Beckinton's steam-mill about the year 1800, 
the workmen came upon the Wall, and, with great 
good taste, built into the opposite quay three of the 
largest stones they met with, in order to mark its 
site ; they may yet be seen at low water, and are 
evidently mile-castle stones. 

It is not possible to trace the Wall with minute 
accuracy through Newcastle, a town which has been 
the seat of a large and active population ever since 
the days of Roman occupation. In endeavouring to 
follow its route, I shall mainly depend upon the 



120 COURSE THROUGH NEWCASTLE. 

investigations of Mr. George Bouchier Richardson, 
who has for several years past made the antiquities 
of ' the Metropolis of the North' his especial study, 
and whose paper upon this subject, recently read 
before the Society of Antiquaries of this town, will 
doubtless speedily appear in the Arch apologia iElian a. 
Rising from the western bank of the O use-burn, 
it traversed the north side of Stepney -bank, passed 
through the gardens at the Red Barns, along the 
site of the present Melbourne-street, and, proceed- 
ing behind the Keelmen's Hospital, came to the 
Sallyport. This, which was one of the gates of the 
town, is sometimes described as a Roman building, 
but is of mediaeval origin. Thence, the Wall went 
over the crest of the hill still called the Wall-knoll, 
where the foundations of it were turned up about 
the middle of the last century. It crossed Pandon- 
dean on the north side of the locality called the 
Stock-bridge, and, in its western course, as- 
cended the steep hill, on the summit of which 
stands All Saints' church. Brand tells us that 
the crypt of the old church had plainly been built 
of stones plundered from the adjacent Wall. A well 
of Roman masonry is said to have been discovered 
near the church when the foundations of the new build- 
ing were prepared. Crossing Pilgrim-street a little 
above Silver-street, the course of the Wall is indi- 
cated by the present narrow street called the Low 
bridge. Until a comparatively recent period, the 
site of Dean-street formed the unenclosed bed of the 
Lort-burn, and was spanned by an arch called the 



NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 121 

Low-bridge. At the point where this mediaeval via- 
duct stood, its Roman predecessor carried the Wall, 
with its attendant military way, across the gully* 
The church of St. Nicholas, according to Leland, 
whose statement is confirmed by subsequent writers, 
' stondithe on the very Picts Waulle/ The Wall, 
leaving the church, crosses Collingwood-street in an 
oblique direction, and passing by St. John's church, 
the Vicarage-house, and the Assembly-rooms, makes 
for the Town-wall somewhat to the north of the site 
of the West-gate. There can be little doubt that in 
its exit from the town, the Wall occupied the eleva- 
tion on which Cumberland- row now stands. 

PONS ^LIL— Having tracked the Wall in its 
passage through the modern town, the site of the 
ancient station of Pons ^Elii next demands attention. 

Horsley is the only writer who has attempted to 
define its limits, and he had but slender evidence to 
guide him. He takes, as his data, the three following 
facts: — 1. The course of the Wall westward, which 
he conceives, and no doubt correctly, would form 
the northern boundary of the station ; 2. The direc- 
tion of the Vallum, some portions of which remained, 
in his day, just outside the West- gate; 3. ' A tradi- 
tionary account of the Wall having passed through 
St. George's porch, near the north-west corner of 
St. Nicholas'-church.' As this porch stands a little 
to the south of the line of the great Wall, as laid down 
by him, he conceives that this traditionary wall must 
have been the east wall of the station, and draws it upon 



122 PONS JELU. 

his plan accordingly.^ The western wall now only 
remained to be determined, and this point was easily 
settled, by supposing the station to have been square. 
According to the line assigned by him to the Val- 
lum, six chains is the distance which would inter- 
vene between it and the Wall ; he therefore places 
the western rampart of the station at the correspond- 
ing distance of six chains from the eastern, and 
encloses altogether an area of little more than three 
acres. 

It may well be doubted whether the important 
station of Pons ^Elii would be subjected to the or- 
dinary rules of castrametation. I am strongly dis- 
posed to think, that it would partake of the features 
of a commercial as well as of a military capital, and 
that its walls would not only embrace a wider range 
than ordinary camps, but would be allowed to adapt 
themselves more freely to the nature of the ground. 

The wants of the immense body of troops required 
to garrison the Wall, and man its out-posts, would 
create a considerable amount of commerce. The 
inhabitants of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, would be 
unwilling all at once to forego the comforts and 
luxuries of their sunny climes, and to be entirely 
cut off from intercourse with the land of their na- 
tivity. The fragments of amphorae, which are so 

9 Horsley's traditionary account was probably derived from the 
same source as Leland's ; and therefore may indicate, not the sta- 
tion wall, but the great \Yall itself. If, as the excavations made 
since Horsley's day seem to prove, the Wall crossed obliquely from 
the south to the north side of Collingwood- street, it must have 
passed over the site of St. Nicholas'-church — not to the north of it. 



NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, 123 

abundantly met with on the line of the Wall, shew 
that the soldiers sometimes gladdened their hearts 
with the wine of their native hills ; and the innumer- 
able sherds of Samian ware, which usually bestrew 
the camps of Roman occupation, prove that a con- 
tinual intercourse was kept up with the continent. 
To the sea, as a means of communication between 
many of the stations of Roman Britain, frequent re- 
course would be had. 

The exports from this island to the continent were 
considerable. Camden tells us, that every year not 
less than eight hundred vessels laden with corn alone 
were sent out of it. Certain it is, that the imperial 
government would expect an adequate return for 
the expenditure occasioned by the troops in this 
country, and that the commodities of the continent 
would not be transmitted to the occupants of the 
Wall from motives of mere benevolence. Lead, 
which is now so abundant in the three northern 
counties, would probably form one article of export, 
and corn another. Those who have noticed the fer- 
tility of some portions of the region watered by the 
Tyne, will be able to conceive how luxuriant were 
the harvests which its alluvial soil produced when 
first turned up by the plough. It is certain that coal 
has been wrought to some extent in Roman times, 
and some of it may have been exported. 

No place in the north of England was so well fitted 
as Newcastle to be the emporium of the commerce of 
the North. Situated upon a noble river, at about ten 
miles from its mouth, it combined the naval advan- 



124 PONS MLII. 

tages of the coast, with the security of an inland 
situation. The wealth arising from the commerce 
of the port would increase its importance, and the 
facility with which foreign news and foreign luxuries 
could be obtained, would render it the frequent re- 
sort of those prefects and tribunes whose usual posts 
were in bleaker and more inhospitable regions. 
The fact that the river was at this part spanned by a 
bridge of many arches, is a striking indication of 
the importance of the place even in the days of 
the emperor Hadrian. 

No account has come down to us of the state of 
Newcastle in the days of Roman occupation, but if, 
after it had been deprived of the advantages which 
the residence of the mural garrison conferred upon 
it, the venerable Bede calls it ■ an illustrious royal 
city' — ' vico regis illustri 1 — -we must conclude that it 
was a place of considerable importance. The natural 
advantages of the situation struck the eye of Camden; 
*Now', says he, ' where the Wall and Tine almost 
meet together, Newcastle sheweth itself gloriously 
the very eye of all the townes in these parts.' 

Under these circumstances, there seems to be no 
reason why the walls of Pons Mlii should form the 
usual military parallelogram any more than Roman 
Rochester, or Pompeii, or Rome itself, much less 
that the station should occupy an area of little more 
than three acres. 

The contour of the ground on which the modern 
Newcastle stands, is peculiar. It consists of three 
tongues of land, separated by natural valleys per* 



NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 125 

meated by rivulets. The westernmost of these pre- 
sents the boldest front to the river, and is that on 
which the Castle stands ; the Skinner-burn bounds it 
on the west, and the valley of the Lort-burn, the pre- 
sent Dean-street, on the east. The contiguous tongue 
lies between the Lort-burn and Pandon-dean ; and 
that still further removed, has for its eastern boundary 
the Ouse-burn. The same natural advantages which 
recommended the heights of the most westerly of these 
strips of ground to the Normans for the erection of their 
stronghold, would no doubt previously induce the Ro- 
mans to select it as their chief position. They proba- 
bly enclosed nearly the whole of it within their walls. 
Horsley, indeed, places his camp in this division, but 
in the least advantageous part of it, whether consider- 
ed in a military or in a commercial point of view. The 
Romans would surely not overlook the importance 
of the ravine of Dean-street as a defence on the east, 
especially at a time when the tide flowed up it as far 
as the Painter-heugh, and of the cliff that descends 
from the Castle to the river on the south. The ne- 
cessity of defending the bridge, and commanding the 
Tyne would not be forgotten. Taking all these 
things into account, we may fairly suppose the walls 
of Pons ^Elii to have been thus defined : — The 
Wall, passing through the site of St. Nicholas'- 
church, would, o fcourse, be its northern boundary; 
a line coming from the church, and adapting itself 
to the crest of the hill that overhangs Dean-street, 
crossing the Head-of-the-Side and stretching as far 
as the elevated angle on which the County-courts 



126 PONS JELU. 

now stand, will probably mark its eastern boundary ; 
the southern rampart would run from this angle along 
the edge of the cliff overhanging the Close, as far 
as the site of the White-friar-tower, which stood 
at the head of the present Hanover-street ; the 
western wall may have run in the line of the Town- 
wall as far as Neville-tower, and then have struck 
up in a straight line to meet the great Wall. West- 
ward of this boundary, the ground slopes down to 
the Skinner-burn. If these lines are correctly 
drawn, Roman Newcastle would contain upwards of 
sixteen acres. 

Although the camp of Pons ^Elii occupied this 
tongue of land, there is no reason to suppose that 
suburban buildings were not erected on the other 
two, both of which are well protected by their natu- 
ral situation. There is good ground to believe that 
Pandon, which was formerly a separate town from 
Newcastle, and is seated on the middle strip, was 
of Roman origin. Villas and gardens probably ex- 
tended as far as the Ouse-burn. 

In order to render the preceding description in- 
telligible to persons unacquainted with the topo- 
graphy of Newcastle, a plan of the town (Plate V.) 
and a lithographic view of Pons ^Elii are appended. 
In the plan of the town, Horsley's demarkation of 
the station, as well as the one here proposed, is laid 
down. For the view of Pons JElii, the frontispiece, 
I am indebted to the pencil of Mr. G. Bouchier 
Richardson ; the contour of the ground is very ac- 
curately delineated, and the probable outline of the 



NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 127 

station marked ; the details of the picture are of 
course filled up according to the artist's fancy— 
a fancy regulated by his antiquarian knowledge. 

Roman antiquities, which, when they abound, are 
so serviceable in defining the seat of Roman occu- 
pation, are unfortunately here rather scanty and un- 
important. This cannot be matter of surprise. In 
the middle ages, Newcastle abounded in churches 
and monastic buildings. To the erection of these 
and of the Castle, the Town-wall, and Gates, every 
stone whether lettered, sculptured, or plain, that 
could easily be obtained, would be appropriated. 

The precincts of the Castle have afforded the most 
important discoveries of this kind. The present 
County-courts occupy the site of a building which 
used to be called the Half-moon-battery. This was 
probably the position of the south-east angle of the 
station of Pons ^Elii, and some of the lines of the 
octagonal face of the battery presented no doubt the 
actual curve of the station. To a certain extent the 
Norman builders may have converted to their own 
uses a portion of the labours of their imperial prede- 
cessors ; appearances seemed to shew that the Castle 
wall between the Half-moon-battery and the Black- 
gate had rested upon a Roman foundation. When 
the County-courts were built, some important disco- 
veries were made. Mr. Hodgson, who watched the pro- 
gress of the excavations, has thus described them : — 

In digging for the foundations for the Northumberland 
County Court-house, in 1810, a well was found finely cased 
with Roman masonry. It still remains below the centre part 



128 PONS JEtlt. 

of the present court-house. It had originally been a spring, 
or sunk low down on the river bank, and its circular wall, raised 
within another strong wall in the form of a trapezium to the 
height of the area of the station, and the space between them 
traversed with strong connecting beams of oak both horizon- 
tally and perpendicularly, and then tightly packed up with 
pure blue clay. Some beams of this timber were taken up and 
formed into the judges'* seats, and chairs for the grand-jury 
room, now in use. Two of the perpendicular beams had very- 
large stags' horns at their lower end, apparently to assist in 
steadying them till clay sufficient was put around them to 
keep them upright. On the original slope of the bank next 
the outer wall, there was a thick layer of ferns, grasses, bram- 
bles, and twigs of birch and oak, closely matted together, and 
evidently showing that before these works were constructed, 
man had not tenanted the spot.* Here also were exposed 
large remains of the foundations of other very thick and strong 
walls, one of which rose into the eastern wall of the Old Moot- 
hall, which was of exactly the same breadth, bearing, and 
style of building, and doubtless of the same date as the Roman 
foundations of w T hich it was a continuance. 

The whole site of the Court-house, for several feet above the 
original surface of the earth, was strewn with a chaos of Ro- 
man ruins. I was frequently on the spot while the excavations 
were carrying on, and saw dug up large quantities of Roman 
pottery, two bronze coins of Antoninus Pius, parts of the 
shaft of a Corinthian pillar, fluted, and of the finest work- 
manship ; besides many millstones, and two altars, one bear- 
ing an illegible inscription, and the other quite plain. The 
altars were found near the north-east corner of the Court- 
house, and near them a small axe, and a concave stone, which 
bore marks of fire, w r as split, and had thin flakes of lead in its 
fissures. The broad foundation walls were firm and impenetra- 
ble as the hardest rock. On Aug. 11, 1812, when the found- 

h So inviting a post would not escape the notice of the ancient 
British warrior — the appearances Mr. Hodgson describes, are not 
inconsistent with its having been an Ancient-British strong-hold. 



ANTIQUITIES OF PONS ^LII. 



129 



ations of the north portico were sinking, a Roman coin was 
found (of what Emperor I have no minute,) and the original 
surface of the ground was covered with a thick stratum of 
small wood, some parts of which were wattled together in the 
form of crates or the corfs of collieries, but in a decayed state, 
and cut as easily with the workmen's spades, as the brushwood 
found in peat mosses does. As there was much horse or 
mules 1 dung near them, and some mules' shoes amongst it, I 
thought they had been fixed there as crates or racks to eat 
fodder out of. 

Since that period, few im- 
portant discoveries have been 
made. In cutting the crest 
of the hill in front of the Cas- 
tle for one of the piers of the 
Railway viaduct, a small stone 
figure of Mercury, represent- 
ed in the adjoining wood-cut,* 
was found. It is preserved, 
among other antiquities, in 
the Museum in the Castle. 

Between the years 1840 and 1844, the White- 
friar-tower and the contiguous portions of the Town- 
wall of Newcastle were removed. Two Roman 
altars were discovered, which are now in the pos- 
session of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne. One of them is destitute of an inscrip- 
tion, and the other seems to bear the word silvano. 
Several coins of the Roman and mediaeval age were 
picked up in its immediate vicinity. The Roman 
coins were of both the upper and the lower em- 

* Drawn to twice the usual size, 

s 




130 THE BRIDGE OF ^LIUS. 

pire. From the manner in which the pieces of the 
middle and ancient periods were commingled, a 
thing of rare occurrence, it may be inferred that the 
tower was formed out of Roman materials, and that 
the Roman coins were re-imbedded without being 
noticed, whilst the workmen inadvertently added 
Nuremberg tokens and other contemporary pieces 
to the numismatic treasures of the spot. 

But, perhaps, the structure which gave name to 
Pons ^Elii affords the most interesting foot-prints 
of Roman occupation in Newcastle. 

Horsley received sufficient evidence to convince 
him, that a Roman road had gone from the south 
bank of the Tyne to Chester-le-street, and thence 
to the south of England. A bridge was necessary to 
conduct the road across the river. In 1771, a flood 
having carried away several of the arches of the 
bridge which then existed, and materially damaged 
the rest of the structure, it was found necessary to 
erect a new one. In removing the old piers the dis- 
tinguishing characteristics of Roman masonry were 
observed ; and the workmen were led to believe that 
the arches of the mediaeval structure had been 
placed upon the foundations which Hadrian laid. 
Several piles of fine black oak, which had supported 
the foundation, were drawn out of the bed of the river, 
and found to be in a state of excellent preservation.* 



* The author, as the leader of the pilgrim-band who traversed 
the Wall in the summer of 1849, used a staff made out of this 
primeval oak. It is now in the Newcastle collection of antiquities. 



COINS FOUND IN THE BRIDGE. 



131 




The coins that were found imbedded in the piers 
give decided evidence of the Roman origin of the 
structure. To some of these, in the possession of 
George Rippon, esq., of Waterville, North Shields, 
I have had access ; they are here represented. 

Obv. HADRIANUS AUGUSTUS, CON- 
SUL TERTIUM. PATER PATRIAE. Bare 

head of Hadrian. 

Rev. — germania. The province 
personified as a female standing. In her right she holds a lance ; 
her left hand rests upon a German- shaped shield. 

Obv. IMPERATOR CiESAR TRAJANUS HADRIANUS 

Augustus. Laureated head of Hadrian. 

Rev. PONTIFEX MAXIMUSTR1BUNITIA POTESTATE 

consul tertium. A female figure, with helmet, 
standing, holding a lance in her left hand, and in her 
a patera, under which is an object that appears to be an altar. 

Obv. — Same as the former ; but consul secundum. 
i Rev. — Legend same as the former, but in the exer- 
gue justitia. A female seated ; in her right hand a 
patera, in her left a spear. 

Obv. — Same as the two former. 

Rev. — Same as in the former, but in the exergue. 
fel pr (Felicitas Fopuli Romani). A female 
seated ; in her right hand a caduceus, in her left a 
cornucopia. 






Obv. — SEVERUS AUGUSTUS PAR- 

rmcus maximus. Laureated head 
of the emperor. 

Rev. — PROVIDENTTA AUGUSTORUM. 

The figure of a female standing, with a globe at her feet. 

The coins of Hadrian are remarkably bold and sharp, 
and cannot have been long in circulation before being 



132 CHARACTER OF THE BRIDGE. 

deposited in the bed where sixteen centuries of repose 
awaited them; that of Severus is a good deal corroded. 
Besides these, other coins have been found. Brand 
had one of Trajan, and he engraves a copper 
coin of Hadrian ; he also had in his possession 
one of Antoninus Pius. Pennant describes, amongst 
others, a coin of Faustina the Elder, and one of 
Lucius Verus. Hodgson saw coins of Gordian and 
Magnentius, all of which had been obtained from the 
same spot 

The coins posterior to the time of Hadrian were 
probably deposited during the repairs and alterations 
which the bridge received after its original construc- 
tion in A.D. 120. 

It is probable that the ancient bridge had no stone 
arches, but was provided with a horizontal road-way 
of timber. Pennant' who derived his information 
from the workmen, says, that 'the old piers seem 
originally to have been formed without any springs 
for arches. This was a manner of building used by the 
Romans ; witness the bridge built over the Danube by 
Trajan, at Severin, whose piers, I believe, still exist/ 

The foundations of the piers of three Roman 
bridges in the region of the Wall, still remain — one 
across the Tyne, at Corstopitum, one across the 
North Tyne, at Cilurnum, and another across the 
Reed-water, at Habitancum ; an examination of 
these has induced me to believe that they, at least, 
had no arches. The piers are of a size and strength 

' Tour, Hi. 313, quoted by Brand, i. 37. 



SUPPOSED MEDAL OF THE BRIDGE. 133 

sufficient to withstand the thrust of the waters 
without the aid of an arch ; and in one at least 
of these cases, the requisite spring of the arch 
would have raised the road to an inconvenient 
height. An experienced mason who examined 
carefully the ruins of the bridge at Habitancum 
told me that he observed that all the stones which en- 
cumbered the spot were square, none of them having 
the shape of stones used in building arches. It is 
certain that in the mediaeval period the Newcastle 
bridge had a road- way of timber; for Matthew of 
Paris tells us that, A.D. 1248, it, and the greater 
part of the town were destroyed by fire. 

Brand, misled by the early numismatists, conceived 
that the bridge across the Tyne had been honoured 
by a commemorative medal. He says — 

Two coins appear to have been struck upon the building of 
two bridges by this emperor ; one is doubtless to be referred 
to that of Home ; may not the other have been intended to 
commemorate the work we are now considering ? One of the 
bridges marked on these coins has seven, the other five arches. 
The Tiber being a very inconsiderable river, when compared 
with the Tyne, we must therefore claim that with seven 
arches — especially as we find a view of the Pons JElius at 
Rome in Piranesi's collection, without the modern ornaments, 
where it is represented as consisting of exactly five arches."* 

Alas ! for a theory so beautiful and so grateful 
to the feelings of Newcastle antiquaries ! Mr. 
Akerman, in his work on rare and inedited Roman 
coins, has pronounced the relentless verdict — 

'"Brand's Newcastle, i. 37. 



134 ORIGIN OF THE NAME PONS JELU. 

' The medallion with the Pont JElius, quoted by 
the early numismatic writers, is a modern fabri- 
cation.' 

It is perhaps too much to suppose that all the 
arches of the mediaeval bridge rested upon Roman 
foundations, but it is more than probable that the 
piers of the original structure would be at least as 
numerous as those of its sucessor. The mediaeval 
bridge had twelve arches. 

No altar or other inscribed stone has been found 
to confirm the opinion that Newcastle was the 
ancient Pons ^Elii. Brand was ' of opinion that the 
inscriptions belonging to the station of Pons ^Elii 
are all built up in the old keep of the Castle, and 
that a rich treasure of this kind will some time or 
other be discovered, lurking in its almost impregna- 
ble walls, by future antiquaries.' May the anti- 
quary never be born that shall behold this treasure ! 
Such evidence is, however, scarcely needed to lead 
us to the ancient designation of the place. The fact 
that Pons ^Elii occurs in the Notitia between 
Segedunum and Condercum, and that Newcastle 
lies between the modern representatives of these 
two stations, Wallsend and Benwell, is strong pre- 
sumption in favour of the theory, and the fact that 
a Roman bridge here crossed the Tyne, renders 
it almost indubitable. This structure took the name of 
the Bridge of iElius, after Hadrian," who was of the 

n Jerusalem was called after him iElia Capitolina, and the 
games at Pincum, in Msesia, iElia Pincensia. 



THE CASTLE OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 135 

iElian family, and the bridge gave name to the 
station. The Notitia informs us that Pons .ZElii 
was governed by the tribune of the cohort of the 
Cornovii, 'a people/ says Hodgson, ' whose name is 
unnoticed by all the ancient geographers I have 
access to.' 

Before leaving the station of Pons iELii, a refer- 
ence to the mediaeval structure — the Norman keep — 
which gives the town its modern name, may be al- 
lowed. It is the most perfect specimen of Norman 
castrametation in the kingdom ; and a careful ex- 
amination of its structure will yield a more correct 
view of the mode of warfare adopted at the time of 
its erection, and of the mournful condition of society 
then existing, than the fullest verbal description could 
give. Within a recent period its passages have 
been cleared and its portals opened, so as to afford the 
antiquary an opportunity of examining it thoroughly. 
The Corporation of Newcastle, whose property it is, 
have, in this respect, set an example which might 
with advantage be followed by the national govern- 
ment. To the student of the Wall, however, the col- 
lection of Roman antiquities which the castle con- 
tains, will be the object of greatest interest. In the 
number and importance of its altars and inscribed 
stones, it excels every other museum in Britain. As 
the Castle contains so many of the spoils of the Wall, 
it is much to be wished that it could be made the de- 
pository of all that have been discovered on the line. 
Numerous individual objects of interest are scattered 
over the country, and he who would examine them all 



136 ROAD TO BENWELL. 

must travel several hundred miles, and propitiate the 
favour of many private gentlemen, as well as public 
bodies. Documents illustrative of the history of a 
country may be regarded as the property of the 
country, so far at least, as to be made easily accessible 
to all. Pons ^Elii is the fitting place to deposit those 
antiquities of the Wall which cannot be carefully 
preserved on the spot where the Romans originally 
placed them. 

The reader will probably now be glad to disen- 
tangle himself from the intricacies of Pons Mlii, 
and to pursue with rapid steps the course of the 
Wall westward. 

Between Newcastle and Benwell-hill, the traces 
of the works are faint but interesting. The turnpike 
road runs upon the bed of the prostrate Wall, so 
that, except occasionally in a neighbouring building, 
not one stone of it is to be seen ; its constant com- 
panion, the north fosse, may, however, be recognized 
in a kind of depression or slack, which runs nearly 
all the way parallel with the road on the traveller's 
right hand. On his left, he will sometimes be able 
to discern with tolerable certainty the course of the 
Vallum. A small, but well denned portion of it, is 
met with immediately after leaving the town, behind 
a row of houses, appropriately termed Adrianople. 
Though the stone wall has perished, this humble 
earth-work has survived the accidents of seventeen 
eventful centuries! Its days, however, are now 



CCNDERCUM. 137 

numbered; a contiguous quarry is making rapid 
encroachments upon it. 

CONDERCUM.— About two miles from New- 
castle, and near the modern village of Benwell, 
stood the third station of the line, Condercum. 

The present turnpike road runs through it, occu- 
pying, in all probability, very nearly the site of its 
ancient via principalis. So feeble, however, are the 
traces of it which remain, that the wayfarer who 
does not scrutinize the spot very narrowly, will pass 
on his journey without knowing that he is treading 
ground once jealously guarded by imperial power — 
the scene, for centuries, of a crowded city's joys and 
fears. 

The situation of the camp is good ; without being 
much exposed, it commands an extensive prospect 
in every direction. Northwards, looking over the 
grounds of Fenham, the Simonside hills appear in 
the distance, and still more remote, is the lofty 
range of Cheviot. To the south is the vale of 
Ravensworth, which is exceeded by the vale of 
Clwyd only in magnitude, not in beauty, and to 
the south-west, the lordly Tyne threads its way 
through the richest of landscapes. 

The sunny slope, south of the station, was favour- 
able for the erection of the suburban buildings of 
the occupants of the camp, the foundations of seve- 
ral having been discovered. 

In Horsley's days, the ramparts were large and 
distinct ; now, their surface is chiefly marked by a 

T 



138 CONDERCUM. 

general elevation, occasioned probably by the accu- 
mulated ruins of the ancient fort. It contains in 
all a space of nearly five acres. Gordon conceived 
that the Wall was continued right through the sta- 
tion. This would have divided it into two distinct 
parts. As Horsley and Brand prove, the Wall 
came up to its eastern and western ramparts, but 
did not pass through it. The northern wall of the 
station itself was a sufficient defence in that quarter. 
About a third of the station was to the north of the 
line of the Wall, the remaining two-thirds were 
within it. The Vallum, Horsley tells us, fell in with 
the southern rampart. 

The portion north of the turnpike road is at pre- 
sent under tillage. In Brand's days it was covered 
with a plantation. The man who first ploughed it 
told me that in doing so, his horse, on one occasion, 
sank up to its middle in traversing some chambers 
that had been insecurely covered. The quantity of 
Roman pottery which is found in this portion of the 
camp is remarkable. Fragments may be seen at 
every step. The peculiar character of the Roman 
earthenware, especially of the coral -coloured kind, 
denominated Samian, renders this an interesting evi- 
dence of Roman occupation. 

The larger portion of the station, that to the south 
of the road, is enclosed within the walls of Benwell- 
park. The inequalities of its grassy surface indicate 
the lines of its streets, and the position of some of 
its principal buildings. Near its centre is a large 
mound, which would probably reward examination. 



BENWELL. 139 

The southern rampart, with its fosse, is very distinct. 
Two hypocausts have been discovered in con- 
nexion with this station ; one within its walls, close 
to the south side of the road, and between forty and 
fifty yards from the eastern rampart, the other with- 
out them, and about three hundred yards to the 
south-west. Of the latter building a plan is given 
by Brand. It contained eight or nine apartments, 
five of which had floors supported upon pillars. The 
floors consisted of ( flags covered with a composition 
of various hard ingredients, about eighteen inches 
thick, such as small pieces of brick and blue and red 
pots, mixed up with run lime.' The pillars were all 
of stone, and were so arranged as to allow hot air to 
circulate beneath the apartments. The idea gene- 
rally entertained of these arrangements is, that they 
were intended for hot baths and sudatories. In 
pursuance of this opinion, Mr. Shafto, who dis- 
covered this hypocaust, says : ' Here were found 
many square bricks with holes in the middle, which 
were probably joined together by way of pipes, to 
conduct the water from the top of the hill, where 
there was also the appearance of other baths, and 
where, probably, springs had been, but since drained 
by the colliery.' However much the Romans in their 
own luxurious city may have been addicted to the in- 
dulgence of the hot-bath and the sweating-room, it 
may well be doubted, whether, in this cold climate, 
they would have any great desire for it, or if they had, 
whether the dread realities of war would allow them 
to make, on an enemy's frontier, erections so exten- 



140 



CONDERCUM, 



sive as this has been, for such a purpose. Next to 
food, warmth would be their most urgent demand, 
and a more effectual mode of maintaining a uniform 
temperature in their dwellings could not be devised 
than that which the hypocaust supplied. 

Brand tells us that great conduits or sewers, com- 
posed of large wrought stones, were discovered in 
the north part of the station at the depth of about a 
yard and a half. 

Several inscribed slabs and small altars have 
been found in the 
station. The most 
important one of 
these, which is pre- 
served in the par- 
sonage at Ry ton, is 
here represented. 
By comparing it 
with the Notitia, 
we learn the ancient name of the station, and the lo- 
cality of its original occupants. 

MATRIBVS CAMPEST[R£BVS] 
ET GENIO ALJ3 PRI[M.E] HISPANO- 

RVM ASTVRVM [OB VIRTVTEM] 

[APPELLATE] GORDIAN^J TITVS] 

AGRIPPA PR.E[FECTVS] TEMPLVM A Sk>LOl 

[RESJTITVIT. 

To the Campestral Mothers, 
and to the Genius of the first wing' of Span- 
ish Astures, on account of their valour, 
styled Gordiana, Titus 
A grip pa, their prefect, this temple, from the ground, 
rebuilt. 




BEN WELL. J4I 

The Notitia records that the praefect ' alee "primes 
Astorum' was stationed at Condercum. This slab, 
reads Astwrum, not Astorum. At two other stations 
the same people resided ; at Cilurnum, the Notitia 
places the prsefect ' dice secundoe Astorum,' and at 
iEsica, the tribune ' cohortis primce Astorum/ At 
both these forts, as well as in the case immediately 
before us, inscriptions have been found which are 
written Astwrum ; the probability, therefore, is, that 
a clerical error has crept into the Notitia, and that it 
was the Astures, not the Asti (a people of Liguria), 
who garrisoned these posts. The Astures were 
a people from the eastern part of the modern 
Asturias, in Spain. ' Under the empire, the term 
ala was applied to regiments of horse, raised, 
it would seem, with very few exceptions, in the 
provinces.' This fractured slab, therefore, fur- 
nishes us with the information that the camp at Ben- 
well was anciently named Condercum, and that it 
was garrisoned by a Spanish cavalry regiment. It 
supplies other facts. This regiment was styled, 
probably on account of some illustrious achievement, 
Gordiana. The emperor Gordian, from whom this 
title is derived, began his reign in the year 238. We 
have thus a proof of the continued occupation of the 
camp until a date subsequent to this period. The 
event recorded by the inscription is to the same 
effect. A temple which had been erected, probably 
at the first formation of the station, had through time 

Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 



142 



CONDERCUM. 



or the chances of war, become so entirely dilapidated, 
as to require rebuilding, and Titus Agrippa ac- 
complished the work. The Romans, although they 
had at this time been long in the occupation of the 
isthmus, had then no thoughts of relinquishing it. 
The woodland deities, to whom the temple was 
dedicated, will require separate discussion afterwards. 
To the same occasion will be referred a remarkable 
altar inscribed to the three Lamise, which was dis- 
covered at this station. Two 
altars p of less importance, which 
were found here, may at once be 
disposed of. They are dedicated 
to one of the favourite deities of 
Rome — Mars. The focus, or place 
for burning the offering, is deep 
and well marked in each of them. 
They are small domestic altars, 
before which the soldier would 
perform his private devotions. As such, they give 
us a little insight into the heart and feelings of the 
worshipper. 




DEO M 




To the god 


ART I V 




Mars 


ICTORflJ 




The Conqueror and 


VINDI[CTJ 




Avenger 


V[OTVM] 


In 


performance of a vow 



Along with this altar, as Brand tells us, were found 
two stones resembling pine- apples. This is by no 



p In the possession of the Society of Antiquaries at Somerset- 
house. The wood -cuts are drawn to twice the usual scale. 



BENWELL. 



143 




JENf 



means an unusual ornament of the works along the 
line. The pine-apple ornament is frequently intro- 
duced in the stained-glass works of the middle ages. 
As the fruit to which it bears a resemblance could not 
be known in Europe until after the 
discovery of America, the origin of 
the figure is an interesting specu- 
lation. I am disposed to think it is 
of Mithraic origin, and that the pro- 
totype of it was a mass of flame 
proceeding from the torch usually I Jdbt^S 
represented in the statues of that « 
deity. The other altar, here given, is inscribed— 

deo m- To the god 

arti Mars 

ienv Jenu- 

aniv[s] anius erected this 

v[otvm] In performance of a vow. 

Besides these and some other inscribed stones, many 
coins have been found here ; amongst them, Brand 
mentions denarii of Trajan, Hadrian, Faustina senior, 
and Domitian ; brass coins of Valentinian, Gratianus, 
Diocletian, Faustina, and Maxentius, with many 
others not legible. Obscene figures are frequently 
found in Roman stations. They were worn by 
females as a religious charm. Benwell has fur- 
nished one such example of a very remarkable 
kind. Before leaving the station, the inquiring 
traveller will do well to examine the stones of the 
park-wall. He will soon detect many of Roman 
mould, whose faces have been scarred by the blasts 



144 CONDERCUM. 

of many centuries. The larger ones have been de- 
rived from the Wall — the smaller, from the curtain 
wall of the station, or the dwellings erected within it. 
The pleasant village of Benwell lies a little to the 
south-west of the station. ' The old tower of Ben- 
well-hair says Bourne, l was the place where the 
prior of Tynemouth resided some part of the sum- 
mer, and the chapel, which Mr. Shaftoe opens and 
supplies for the good of the people of his village, 
was the prior's domestic chapel.' Who that visits 
the spot will say that the prior who made the selec- 
tion was not a man of taste ? Benwell, as Horsley 
remarks, is not improbably thought to have its name 
from the northern word ben, (Saxon binnari) sig- 
nifying within, and well for wall, as being seated 
within, $r on the south side of the Wall. 9 Whitaker 
derives the Roman name of the station, Condercum, 
from the Celtic Cond ar gut, the height upon the 
water/ The river being near, the description is 
apposite. 

Leaving Condercum, we again pursue our journey 
westward. The road for several miles running upon 
the base of the Wall, the facing stones may not un- 

g Baxter, in his glossary, derives it from the ancient British 
words Pen ual, the head of the Wall. A comparatively modern 
village would hardly take a Celtic name ; besides, although the 
Roman station has a commanding prospect in a military point of 
view, it is scarcely so elevated as to be entitled to the epithet 
of Pen or Ben ; the village of Benwell is below it. 

r History of Manchester, i. 224. 



THE WALL AT DENTON. 145 

frequently be seen for some distance together, pro- 
truding through the l metal.' This used to be more 
the case formerly than at present, for since the 
diversion of the traffic from the road to the rail, 
motives of economy have induced the road surveyors 
to quarry, in some places, the last remnants of this 
great work of antiquity, for materials with which to 
repair the highway. The north fosse, as we pursue 
our journey, becomes more distinct on the right of 
the road. 

Descending Benwell-hill, the village of East Den- 
ton is reached. Here we meet for the first time with 
a fragment of the Wall. The accompanying wood- 




cut exhibits its present state. William Hutton de- 
scribes the interesting relic with becoming reverence. 

At Denton Dean, situated at the bottom of Benwell-hill, 
the great road veers a few yards to the right, that is into 
Severus' ditch, and gives us for the first time a sight of that 
most venerable piece of antiquity, The Wall, which is six 

U 



146 DENTON HALL. 

yards south of the road, and twenty short of the brook I am 
going to pass. The fragment is thirty-six feet long, has three 
courses of facing stones on one side, and four on the other, 
and is exaetly nine feet thick. An apple tree grows on the top. 

It has lost a course of facing-stones since Hutton 
saw it, and the apple tree is but the shadow of what 
it was. 

The turnpike road, which usually runs upon the 
site of the Wall, uniformly swerves to the right when 
passing a village. The truth is, nearly every house 
and hamlet in the district has sprung out of the 
Wall. In many instances a mile-castle, slightly 
added to, has formed a mediaeval dwelling of some 
strength. The nucleus thus provided, became, in 
the course of time, clustered round with contiguous 
habitations, so that when, after the last season of 
strife with which the borders were visited, the road 
came to be constructed, motives of economy required 
that these spots of increased value should be avoided. 

Beyond the burn, the ground again rises, and 
the Wall, stretching onwards in a line with the 
road, forms a distinct, but turf-covered mound. 
At the distance of a field to the south of it, the Val- 
lum is seen in greater distinctness than before. 
Both of the aggers and the intervening fosse may 
be clearly made out. Some young ash-trees grow 
in the ditch. 

Advancing a little further, we have Denton-hall, 
formerly the seat of the literary Mrs. Montague, on 
the right; attracted by her influence, many of the 
great spirits of the age were occasionally found to 



CHAPEL-HOUSE. ]47 

be assembled within its walls. Very nearly opposite 
the hall, a larger mass of ruin than usual betokens 
the site of a mile-castle. 

Ascending the hill from West Denton, the fosse 
of the Murus is very distinctly seen. The road is 
elevated two or three feet above the natural level of the 
ground, the Wall, probably some courses high, 
forming its nucleus. 

On the left hand, the lines of the Vallum are 
feebly indicated, but by extending our glance some 
distance backwards and forwards, we can, with 
tolerable certainty, distinguish the artificial mounds 
from the natural heavings of the surface. 

Passing the fourth mile-stone, we arrive at Chapel- 
houses. This name is of sufficiently frequent occur- 
rence along the line to suggest a momentary inquiry 
into its origin. In the early ages of Christianity, a 
mile-castle may have occasionally been the resort of 
the worshippers of the true God; or in the ' trouble- 
some times ' of border warfare, when the church 
not unfrequently shared in the general devastation, 
it may have been set apart as a place for the con- 
firmation of matrimonial vows, and for the perform- 
ance of religious rites. 

From the crown of this hill we have one of the 
finest views which Northumberland can afford. The 
Tyne, in all its glittering beauty, stretches far before 
us. Its southern bank is crowned by the pretty 
village of Ryton, its left is variegated with the once 
beautiful, but now furnace-fuming, Wylam. An 



148 WALBOTTLE-DEAN. 

amphitheatre of hills shuts in the distant scene. v 

Horsley describes some ruined ramparts, called 
the Castle-steads near Chapel-houses, to the south of 
both Vallum and Wall. They were probably tempo- 
rary encampments and have now disappeared. 

Before crossing Walbottle'-dean, the Vallum, 
which is very distinct, and the Wall (t. e. the road) 
approach each other, apparently for mutual support. 
There are no traces of a bridge across the ravine. 
As we ascend the next hill, and pass Throckley," 
we have, for the most part, the fosse on the right 
hand, and the mounds of the Vallum on the left, 
very boldly developed. By the time the traveller 
has advanced thus far, he will have learnt the neces- 
sity of bearing in mind that he is in a mining dis- 
trict. If he overlook this circumstance, he will be 
in danger of mistaking the track of some old ' waggon 
way ' for the terraced lines of Roman cultivation, or 
an old ' pit-heap ' for an indubitable British barrow. 

* The cottage is still standing in the neighbourhood of Wylara, 
in which George Stephenson first saw the light. Aided, in due 
time, by his son, worthy of such a father, he did more than any 
other man to elaborate our present railway system. The antiquary 
who has been revelling in the associations of the past will scarcely 
fail, as he looks down from his Wall- traversed heights upon the 
vale which gave birth to such a man, to give for a moment the 
reins to his imagination, and suffering his mind to penetrate the 
mists of futurity, ruminate upon the changes which the efforts 
of the Stephensons are destined to produce, not only in the phy- 
sical, but in the moral aspect of society. 

t Derived from wall and both, the Saxon for an abode. 

u Anciently written Throcklow. Low, or Law, is applied 
either to a low, round-topped eminence, or an artificial mound. 



HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL. 149 

After passing Throckley, just where a gate on the 
left hand enters the field from the road, a mound 
covered, in winter at least, with greener herbage 
than the contiguous ground indicates the site of a 
mile-castle. A little further on, a range of houses 
of peculiar appearance, called the Frenchman's-row, 
attracts the eye. It was the residence, after the first 
French revolution, of a number of refugees. The 
dial which ornaments the Row is of their fabrica- 
tion. The building is now used as a poor-house. 

On the top of the little eminence, at which we 
arrive before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, the 
north fosse is deeper and bolder than it has hitherto 
appeared ; it must be nearly in its original perfection. 
The works of the Vallum, about fifty yards to the 
south, are also finely developed. The ditch, in both 
cases, is cut through the free-stone rock. Here, 
also, if the traveller will forsake the turnpike, for the 
road, as usual, diverges to the right in order to avoid 
the village, he may see a fragment of the Wall much 
longer and somewhat higher than the one at Denton. 
Its north face is destroyed, but about five courses of 
the southern face are perfect. The accompanying 
lithograph shews the present state of the Barrier here. 
The Wall is in the foreground, while in the distance 
(looking eastward) the section of the north fosse, 
and of the works of the Vallum, is distinctly seen. 

About a mile north of the village is a striking 
prominence called Heddon-law. Horsley remarks 
— ' Not far from Heddon-on-the-Wall have been 
some remarkable tumuli.' 



150 VINDOBALA. 

The ditch of the Vallum cuts right through the 
village, its lowest dip forming the village pond; it 
is rather remarkable that in such a situation, it 
should not long ago have been obliterated. 

Descending the hill on which Heddon-on-the- 
Wall stands, the lines of the Barrier keep close 
together, and not without reason. The crag on the 
south, now the scene of extensive quarrying opera- 
tions, completely commands them. Surely a post 
must have been maintained on this eminence in the 
days of Roman occupation, though it had only been 
for the sake of a look-out. 

Passing the eighth mile-stone, where the Vallum 
is in good condition, we approach the fourth great 
station of the Barrier. A road, crossing the turn- 
pike at right angles, is close to its east rampart. 

VINDOBALA.— The station now called Rut- 
chester, stands on flat ground, but commands a con- 
siderable prospect. The Notitia places here the 
tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi, a people 
whose country does not seem to be mentioned by 
any ancient geographer. The inside dimensions of 
this station, from north to south, are 178 yards, and 
from east to west, 135 ; it consequently contains 
nearly five acres. The Wall started each way from 
the north side of its east and west gates ; so that a 
a greater portion of the station lay on the north than 
on the south side of it, as is shewn in the plan of it, 
Plate II. At present, the turnpike road runs be- 
tween these portions ; that on the north has been 



RUTCHESTER. 151 

all ploughed, and three of its sides sloped into the 
ditch; its general outlines may, however, be dis- 
tinguished ; the southern part is irregular in its sur- 
face, with heaps of ruins, still covered with sward." 
In Horsley's time, the northern part was sufficiently 
perfect to enable him to discern six turrets in it, 
' one at each corner, one at each side of the gate, 
and one between each corner, and those adjoining 
to the gate.'"' The Vallum seems to have joined 
the station in a line with its southern rampart. The 
ditch on the western side is still tolerably distinct. 
The suburbs have been to the south of the station, 
but their site has recently been disturbed by the 
opening of an extensive quarry which has supplied 
large quantities of the stone used in carrying the 
railway over the Tyne, and through Newcastle. 

On the brow of the hill, just west of the station, 
there is still to be seen, hewn out of the solid rock, 
what Wallis calls a coffin. It has more the appear- 
ance of a cistern. It is twelve feet long, four broad, 
and two deep, and has a hole close to the bottom at 
one end. When discovered, it had a partition of 
masonry across it, three feet from one end, and con- 
tained many decayed bones, teeth and vertebrae, 
and an iron implement resembling a three-footed 
candlestick. In the immediate vicinity of this spot, 
three fine Roman altars were discovered in 1844 ; 
they are now in the possession of Mr. James, of 
Otterburn, and are described in the Archaeologia 
iEliana, iv. 5. 

v Hodgson, II. iii. 178. w Britannia Romana, 139. 



152 VINDOBALA. 

The etymology of the name of this station seems 
to be tolerably plain. * Vindobala,' says Whitaker, 
' signifies merely the fort upon the heights. Bala 
remains, to the present period, the Welsh and Irish 
appellation of a town.' I have received a similar 
account of the word from those acquainted with 
the Gaelic language. The station, however, though 
possessing the advantage of a gentle elevation 
above the contiguous ground, does not stand upon 
a lofty eminence. 

No inscriptions have been found here mentioning 
the first cohort of the Frixagi, which, according to 
the Notitia, was quartered in Vindobala. This is 
of little consequence ; the names of the contiguous 
stations both east and west having been ascertained, 
the order of the stations in the Notitia is sufficient 
evidence as to the identity of this with the ancient 
Vindobala. 

The farm-house at Rutchester partly consists of 
an ancient building, possessing great strength of 
masonry. A gothic carving on the interior wall of 
its principal apartment shews that it is not of Roman 
construction. It was probably a mediaeval strong- 
hold, made out of the ruins of the station. It con- 
tains a well, now boarded over, which may be of 
Roman date. 

Most of the stones of the farm buildings and 
adjacent fences are Roman, and one or two frag- 
ments of Roman inscriptions built up in the stables, 
besides some small altars preserved on the premises, 
give interest to the place. 



MURAL HOSPITALITY. 153 

Mr. Hutton is usually very particular in giving a 
detail of the kind of entertainment he met with at 
the various points of his journey. The recital of 
his reception at Rutchester kindles into poetry : 

I saw old Sir at dinner sit, 
Who ne'er said, " Stranger, take a bit," 
Yet might, although a poet said it, 
Have saved his beef, and raised his credit. 

His own appearance, he tells us, was a little peculiar, 
and archaeological pursuits not being in vogue in 
that day, the farmer probably had grave doubts as 
to the propriety of tempting the enthusiastic old 
man to prolong his stay. 

It has frequently been my lot to receive the kindly 
attentions of the inhabitants of the mural region. 
Often have my eyes, bedimmed with fatigue, been 
* enlightened' by partaking of the barley cake of the 
cottager, (excellent food for a thirsty climb) as well 
as the costlier viands of the farm tenant, or pro- 
prietor. Never shall I forget visiting, on one 
occasion, a frail tenement near Chesterholm. Its 
only inmate, an old woman, in the spirit of regal 
hospitality, asked me to join with her in partaking 
of her only luxury — her pipe. I recently observed 
with regret, that the cottage was tenantless. 

The inhabitants of that part of the district which 
is remote from towns, do not affect the dress, or the 
speech, or the manners of polished citizens. They 
like to know a person before they welcome him, and 
make their approaches cautiously. But if slow in 

x 



154 



NORTHUMBRIAN YEOMEN. 



grasping the hand, they do it heartily and sincerely. 
There is scarcely a latch in the wilder regions of the 
country, that I would not freely lift in the assurance 
of a smiling welcome. Often as I have groaned 
under the toils to which my present undertaking 
has exposed me, I have reason to rejoice, that the 
Barrier of the Lower Isthmus has been the means 
of making me acquainted with many of the true- 
hearted and intelligent yeomen, both of my own 
county, and of Cumberland, whom I should not 
otherwise have known. Although their dialect may 
sound strangely to a southern ear, yet it is English 
in its native purity and strength ; a great authority, 
Mr. Thorpe, having said, 1 1 believe the genuine 
Anglian dialect to be that which is usually denom- 
inated the Northumbrian/* 

Proceeding, now, after this long digression, on 
our journey, we pass, on the left hand side of the 
road, an inn generally called the Iron-sign. Some 
of the buildings are entirely composed of Roman 
stones. In the erection nearest the road are three 
centurial stones. One has on it coh viii, another 
has the word lvpi, probably to announce the fact, 
that the portion of the Wall in which it was origin- 
ally inserted had been built by the troop under the 
command of the centurion Lupus ; the third is illegible. 

Passing the ninth milestone, we stand upon the 
top of an eminence from which there is a good view 
of Harlow-hill, and of the adjacent country. The 
Wall here slightly changes its course for the pur- 

x Note in Lappenberg's Anglo-Saxon Kings, i. 91. 



HARLOW-HILL. 155 

pose of ascending the summit before it. The 
Vallum keeps company with the Wall for a short 
distance, but eventually swerves to the south with the 
design of passing along the base of the hill ; it 
rejoins the Wall on the other side. This is an 
arrangement which we should not have encount- 
ered had the Vallum been intended for an inde- 
pendent barrier against a northern foe. The north 
fosse is here very distinct, forming a deep groove on 
the left of the road all the way to Harlow-hill. 

Just before entering the village of Harlow-hill, 
some portions of the heart of the Wall may be seen, 
and a careful scrutiny will enable us to ascertain its 
course through the village, a part of its found- 
ation, of the full width (nine feet), yet remaining. 
As usual, in passing through the village, the turnpike 
road leaves the Wall for a short distance. There 
was a mile-castle at Harlow-hill, which, Horsley 
says, had a high situation, and a large prospect ; all 
traces of it are now gone. A field, about half a mile 
north of Harlow-hill, bears the ominous name of 
Grave-riggs ; the traditionary account of its origin 
being, that after a bloody battle in ' the troublesome 
times/ it became the resting-place of slaughtered 
multitudes. 

The village and ancient stronghold of Welton (a 
corruption no doubt of Wall-town) is about half a 
mile to the south of the road. The fortlet is 
entirely built of Roman stones. The adjoining 
mansion, at present occupied by the farm tenant, 
bears the date of 1616. Its large hall, with ample 



156 WALL-HOUSES. 

hearth and spacious bow-windows, is redolent of 
ancient hospitality. In the memory of the villagers, 
the freaks of a benevolent ghost, named Silky, which 
frequented the old tower, and the feats of strength 
performed by William of Welton, still survive the 
weekly intrusion of the newspaper. 

At Wall-houses, on the south side of the road, 
traces of a mile-castle are obscurely visible ; between 
this point and the fourteenth mile -stone all the lines 
of the Barrier are developed in a degree that is quite 
inspiriting. The north fosse is, for a considerable 
distance, planted with trees, which will for some time 
save it from the envious plough. 

Immediately after passing the farm house of Carr- 
hill, an appearance of great interest presents itself. 
The works of the Vallum are coming boldly forward 
in company with the Wall, when suddenly, and at 
a decided angle, they change their course, evidently 
to avoid mounting a small barrow-like elevation, 
called Down-hill. 2 ' The Wall pursues its course 
straightforward. The view, exhibited on the oppo- 
site page, taken from the edge of the hill, looking 
eastward, shews this arrangement. The road, with 
the ditch on its north side, is the representative 
of the Wall. The Vallum and Wall again con- 
verge as they approach Hunnum. These appear- 
ances strongly corroborate the opinion that all the 

y The road leaves the Wall here, and keeps to the right of the 
nill. The north side of the hill is planted with trees, and it is 
interesting to notice in the summit of the plantation, a dip, corres- 
ponding to the depression of the fosse of the Wall. 



THE VALLUM AT DOWN-HILL. 157 

lines of the Barrier are but parts of one great en- 
gineering scheme. If the Vallum had been con- 
structed as an independent defence against a northern 
foe, and nearly a century before the Wall, we cannot 
conceive that an elevation, which so entirely com- 
mands the Vallum, would have been left open to the 
enemy; especially as it would have been just as easy 
to take the Vallum along the north flank of the 
hill as along the south. Horsley, who advocates the 
opinion that the north agger is Agricola's Military 
Way, that the southern aggers were the work of 
Hadrian, and that the Wall was not erected till the 
time of Severus, is rather at a loss to account for 
these appearances. He says : — 

Before we come to Halton-chesters, somewhat appears that 
is pretty remarkable. Hadrian's Vallum running full upon a 
little hill, turns at once round about the skirt of it, leaving 
the hill on the north, and thereby, one would think, render- 
ing the Vallum itself a weak defence at that part. The north 
agger goes close to the south side of this hill ; so that they 
were also obliged to carry the Vallum round the hill in order 
to preserve the parallelism. If the north agger was the Old 
Military Way, and prior to the Vallum, there was nothing im- 
proper in carrying it on the south skirts of the hill ; and then 
when the Vallum came afterwards to be built, (for a defence, 
or place of retreat) they were under a kind of necessity to 
form it after this manner. 

Since so able a man as Horsley can devise no 
better defence of his theory, it may well be aban- 
doned altogether. It cannot be conceived that, 
under a rule so vigorous as Hadrian's, the builders 
of the Barrier would be allowed to give the enemy 



158 HALTON RED-HOUSE. 

a material advantage, in order to save themselves 
the trouble of reconstructing the Military Way for 
a short space. 

Down -hill bears marks of having been quarried at 
some distant period for its limestone. A little to 
the south of the Vallum are some circular lines, 
which an experienced observer tells me, are the 
remains of ' sow-kilns.' It would, perhaps, be rash 
to claim for them a primeval date, though in their 
appearance there is nothing inconsistent with the 
supposition. 

Halton Red-house is next passed on the right 
hand. It is entirely built of stones taken from the 
neighbouring station ; they have, however, been 
fresh dressed. In the farm-yard is a rectangular 
stone trough, which was found in the station, and 
which its owner describes as a 'smiddy trow/ and 
shews upon the edge the place which had been worn 
away by the attrition of the blacksmith's irons. It 
might, indeed, serve very well for such a purpose, 
but troughs of this kind are of too frequent occur- 
rence in the buildings along the line to allow us to 
suppose that this was their usual application. They 
are generally very rudely carved both outside and 
in, and not un frequently are formed of an irregular 
unsquared block of stone. I think that they were 
used for domestic and culinary purposes. There is 
a fragment of one lying in the hypocaust at Ches- 
ters, the edge of which is worn down by the sharpen- 
ing of knives upon it. 

We now approach the fifth station of the line, 



HALTON-CHESTERS. 159 

HUNNUM. — This ancient abode of Rome's war- 
riors, with its walls, streets, temples, markets, and 
aqueducts, is nearly one unbroken sweep of luxuriant 
vegetation. The traveller may readily pass by it, 
as Hutton did, without discerning symptoms of 
Roman occupation. A small, half-ruined hut stands 
within its area, a fitting emblem of the surrounding 
desolation. It is almost needless to name a city, 
which has no existence, but for convenience sake, 
Horsley conferred upon it the style and title of Hal- 
ton- chesters. The castle of Halton is close by. 

The form of the station is peculiar, as is shewn in 
the plan of it, Plate IT. The Wall joins the station 
at about one-third the distance between its northern 
and southern extremity. The portion of the station 
which is to the north of the Wall is not so broad as 
the part to the south of it. The only reason which 
has been assigned for this is, that, as Horsley ob- 
serves, ' there is a descent or hollow ground joining 
to the west side of this part, so that the work could not 
be carried on any farther that way without much 
trouble and expense ; though, it must be owned, the 
Romans don't usually seem to have valued either the 
one or the other'. It is remarkable that in adapt- 
ing the station to the ground, they have not given 
to the wall, at the north east corner, a slanting 
direction, as would have been most convenient, but 
have, as usual, adhered to the rectangular form. 

The turnpike road, keeping the line of the Wall, 
crosses the station from the site of the eastern to 
that of the western gateway. The section north of 



160 HUNNUM. 

the road was brought under cultivation about twenty 
years ago, when immense quantities of stones were 
removed. It is now called the ' Brunt-ha'penny 
field ' in consequence of the number of corroded 
copper coins which were found in it. The portion 
south of the road has a gentle slope and a fair expo- 
sure to the sun. It has not recently been ploughed, 
and consequently exhibits, with considerable distinct- 
ness, the lines of the outer entrenchments and ditches, 
as well as the contour of the ruined buildings and 
streets of the interior. The suburbs have covered 
a fine tract of pasture-ground to the south. The 
valley on the west side of the station would materially 
strengthen the position in this quarter. 

The excavations made in the northern section, a 
few years ago, revealed several points of interest. 
The careful manner in which the stones, even of the 
foundation, were squared and chiselled, struck be- 
holders with surprise. The thickness, of one part 
at least, of the west wall of the station I have been 
assured, by a person who superintended the work, 
was nine feet. 2 In the angle of the north-west 

z Unable to resist the positive testimony of an intelligent eye- 
witness, I was, at first, disposed to think that he had included in 
his measurement some chamber on the inside of the station wall. 
I am now prepared to receive the statement without deduction. 
Some recent excavations at Risingham have laid bare a part of 
the curtain wall which has been built double, the intervening space, 
or chamber, being filled up with rubble and rubbish run together 
with lime, so as to form a solid mass of masonry of considerable 
thickness. The object of this arrangement may have been, to form 
a solid, elevated platform, for the use of the soldiery. 



HALTON-CHESTERS. 161 

portion of the station, just outside the Wall, was a 
large heap, containing numerous fragments of Roman 
pottery, the bones of animals, the horns of deer, and 
other refuse matter — it must, in short, have been 
the dung-hill of the camp. Even now, although the 
plough has passed repeatedly over it, its position is 
shewn by the darkness of the soil. On the same 
occasion, there was laid open an aqueduct of about 
three quarters of a mile in length, which seems to 
have conducted water from a spring or burn in the 
high ground north of the place where Stagshawbank 
fair is held. My informant, who traced it for be- 
tween two and three hundred yards, says, that it was 
formed of stone^ and was covered with flags." In 
crossing the valley to the west of the fort, it must 
have been supported on pillars, or a mound. The 
most remarkable circumstance to be noticed re- 
specting this water-course is, that it was on the 
north, or the enemy's side of the Wall. It is 
scarcely probable that the Romans would depend for 
that portion of their daily supply, which was re- 
quired for drinking and culinary purposes, on so pre- 
carious a source ; but it is not unlikely that the water 
so introduced was meant to fill the fosse to the north 
of the station, and thus to give the additional security 
of a wet ditch to a portion of the camp, which, 
though much exposed, possessed no natural strength 



a Both Horsley and Lingard had previously noticed it. Horsley 
saj s he was told by a countryman that ' it was what the speaking 
trumpet was laid in.' 

Y 



162 HUNNUM. 

of situation. 6 Crossing the station diagonally from 
below the eastern gateway to the north-west angle, 
a sewer or drain was found, of considerable dimen- 
sions. My informant crept along it for about one 
hundred yards. The bottom of it was filled with 
hardened mud, imbedded in which, were found a lamp 
and many bone pins, such as those with which the 
Romans fastened their woollen garments. 

The most interesting discovery made on this oc- 
casion, however, was a suite of apartments, which 
have been usually supposed to be ' the Baths.' The 
building was one hundred and thirty-two feet in 
length, and contained not fewer than eleven rooms. 
The first of these was forty- three feet long, and twenty 
wide, and was the place, it has been conjectured, 
1 where the bathers waited, and employed themselves 
in walking and talking, till their turn came to bathe.' 
The others beyond are supposed to have been set 
apart for the purposes of undressing, taking the cold, 
the tepid, and the hot-bath, sweating, anointing, and 
robing. If the Roman prefects allowed the most 
important buildings of their frontier camps to be 
devoted to the enjoyment of the bath in all its elabo- 
rate details, they were more indulgent than some 
modern generals would be. That one or two of the 
smaller rooms have been devoted to ablution is not 
unlikely, this range of buildings having contained two 
carefully constructed cisterns which may have been 

* The aqueduct was not traced on the Halton side of the valley, 
so that the precise point where it joined the station is not known ; 
it is now entirely removed. 



HALTON-CHESTERS. 



163 



used as baths. Several of the rooms had hanging 
floors, with flues beneath ; pipes of burnt clay ; fixed 
to the walls by T-headed holdfasts, communicated 
with the flues below, and conveyed the hot air up 
the sides of the apartments. But no provision for 
heating large quantities of water was discovered, 
such as we might have expected to find, if the whole 
building had been used for bathing. 

The whole of this interesting structure was 
removed as the process of exhumation proceeded. 
Our only consolation is, that a minute and able 
description of it has been left us by Mr. Hodgson. 

Several inscribed and sculptured stones have been 
discovered here. Camden, in 1600, found a monu- 
mental slab, erected to the memory of a soldier of 
the Ala Sabiniana ; the regiment which the Notitia 
represents as being quartered at Hunnum. A 
stone, bearing 
the inscrip- 
tion, LEG. II. 

avg. f., Legio 
secunda A ug- 
usta fecit, is at 
Alnwick castle, 
and belongs, 1 
think, to this 
station. Wallis says 'as some labourers were turn- 
ing up the foundations here, for the sake of the 
stones to mend the road, they met with a centurial 
stone with the above inscription, within a civic gar- 
land, the crest of the imperial eagle at each end, 




(J.STOSEt 0£C 



164 HUNNUM. 

and that it was taken into the custody of Sir Edward 
Blackett. The one here shewn, though not a cen- 
turial stone, must be the one in question/ It is one 
of the most elegantly carved stones that have been 
found upon the line, and closely resembles the style 
of those erected by the same legion in the Barrier of 
the Upper Isthmus. The ornament in the upper 
margin, and at the sides, has probably formed the 
type of one that prevailed in the Transition Norman 
and Early English styles. 

Several busts of emperors and empresses, pre- 
served about the house and grounds of Matfen, 
shew the attention which the ancient inhabitants of 
Hunnum have paid to the decoration of the camp. 

A little to the west of 
the station, not far from 
the gateway, was recent- 
ly found the slab which 
is here figured. Al- 
though the inscription is 
not deeply cut, it is very tifflfe 
legible, and doubtless means — The lightning of the 
gods. When any spot was struck with lightning, it 
was immediately deemed sacred, and venerated as 
such by the Romans, being surrounded by a breast- 
work of masonry, similar to that put round the mouth 
of a well. Conscious guilt makes cowards of the most 
dauntless warriors ! Perhaps some member of the 

c Several of the sculptures at Matfen were sent to Alnwick 
Castle. Wallis uses the term, ' centurial stone,' very loosely, ap- 
plying it even to the large Milking-gap slab. 




HALTON-CHESTERS. 165 

Sabinian ala, hastening for shelter, and beseeching 
meanwhile the protection of Jupiter Tonans, was 
here arrested on life's journey, and summoned to his 
great account. 

Among the minor antiquities found at this station 
was a particularly massive finger ring of pure gold, 
set with an artificial stone, on which a full-length 
figure was engraved. It was stolen from lady 
Blackett, to whom it belonged, together with the 
rest of her jewellery. 

An intelligent observer informs me, that an ancient 
road of Roman construction went direct north from 
Hunnum. It, no doubt, soon joined the eastern 
branch of the Watling-street which Horsley lays 
down, part of whose course is represented in the 
map accompanying this volume. 

Halton-castle is to the south of the station. It is 
entirely composed of stones taken from the Roman 
Wall. In the farm-buildings attached to it, are some 
Roman mouldings, and a weathered figure of pri- 
meval aspect. 

No probable etymological account of the word 
Hunnum has yet been offered. If the word Halton 
can be supposed to have any affinity with Hunnum, 
besides the initial breathing, this is one of the few 
instances in which there is any resemblance between 
the ancient and modern name of the stations. 

Leaving Hunnum, we soon reach Stagshaw- 
bank-gate, where the ancient Watling-street crosses 
the road at right-angles. This Roman Way was 



166 VALLUM NEAR ST. OSWALD'S. 

probably first constructed by Agricola, as a means 
of keeping up a communication with the garrisons 
in South Britain, while he was forcing his way into 
Scotland. A fort formerly stood here to guard the 
passage through the Wall ; no trace of it now 
remains. 

The earth-works between this point and the crown 
of the hill descending to the North Tyne are re- 
markably perfect. The description which Hutton 
gives of them happily holds good at the present 
moment — ■ 

I now travel over a large common, still upon the Wall, 
with its trench nearly complete. But what was my surprise 
when I beheld, thirty yards on my left, the united works of 
Agricola and Hadrian, almost perfect ! I climbed over a 
stone wall to examine the wonder ; measured the whole in 
every direction ; surveyed them with surprise, with delight ; 
was fascinated, and unable to proceed ; forgot I was upon 
a wild common, a stranger, and the evening approaching. I 
had the grandest works under my eye of the greatest men of 
the age in which they lived, and of the most eminent nation 
then existing ; all of which had suffered but little during the 
long course of sixteen hundred years. Even hunger and 
fatigue were lost in the grandeur before me. If a man writes 
a book upon a turnpike road, he cannot be expected to move 
quick ; but, lost in astonishment, I was not able to move at all. 

The first time I visited the spot, this passage, 
through which there runs so fine a vein of youth- 
ful enthusiasm, was fresh in my recollection. 
The shades of evening were beginning to gather 
round me, and the blackness of the furze which 
covered the ground, gave additional solemnity to the 



st. Oswald's chapel. J 67 

scene. I looked for the venerable old man, as if 
expecting still to find him fixed in his enthusiastic 
trance ; but he was not there. After all, he had 
moved on ; and a few years more removed him 
from this scene, to sleep in the church-yard under 
a humbler and less durable mound than his favourite 
general and emperor had here raised ! 

The section given in page 52, exhibits the state of 
the works at this place. The north fosse is very 
boldly developed between the sixteenth and 
eighteenth milestone : the whole of its contents lie 
strewed on its outer margin. Near the eighteenth 
milestone, on the left of the road, is a mound, which 
I take to be the remains of a mile-castle. In one 
part near here, the Wall, as seen in the road, 
measures ten feet wide, but it speedily becomes 
narrower. 

Where the ground begins to dip strongly to the 
North Tyne, St. Oswald's chapel stands. On the 
north side of the road, is a field called Mould's- close, 
in which a number of bones and implements of war 
have from time to time been turned up, and which 
is supposed to be the site of a battle. The tradition 
runs, that from the fight which was won here, 
England dates her advancing greatness, and that, 
from the fatal results of a conflict to be lost on the 
same ground, she will date her decline. Hodgson 
says, 'Was this the site of part of the battle of 
Heaven-field, which Bede says was fought just 
north of the Roman Wall, and in memory of which 
the chapel of St. Oswald was built?' That it 



168 BATTLE OF HEAVEN-FIELD. 

was, the narrative of the venerable historian will 
probably shew — 

The place is shewn to this day, and held in much venera- 
tion, where Oswald (A.D. 635). being about to engage (with 
the ferocious British king Cadwalla), erected the sign of the 
holy cross, and on his knees prayed to God that he would as- 
sist his worshippers in their great distress. It is further re- 
ported, that the cross being made in haste, and the hole dug 
in which it was to be fixed, the king himself, full of faith, laid 
hold of it, and held it with both his hands, till it was set fast 
by throwing in the earth ; and this done, raising his voice, he 
cried to his army, ' Let us all kneel, and jointly beseech the 
true and living Grod Almighty, in his mercy, to defend us 
from the haughty and fierce enemy ; for He knows that we 
have undertaken a just war for the safety of our nation.' All 
did as he had commanded, and accordingly advancing towards 
the enemy with the first dawn of day, they obtained the vic- 
tory, as their faith deserved. In that place of prayer very 
many miraculous cures are known to have been performed, as a 
token and memorial of the king's faith ; for even to this day, 
many are wont to cut off small chips of the wood of the holy 
cross, which being put into water, men or cattle drinking of, 
or sprinkled with that water, are immediately restored to 
health. The place in the English tongue is called Hefenfeld, 
or the Heavenly Field. . . The same place is near the Wall 
with which the Romans formerly enclosed the island from sea 
to sea, to restrain the fury of the barbarous nations, as has 
been said before. Hither, also, the brothers of the church of 
Hagulstad (Hexham), which is not far from thence (it is in 
the valley directly below), repair yearly on the day before that 
on which king Oswald was afterwards slain, to watch there 
for the health of his soul, and having sung many psalms, to 
offer for him in the morning the sacrifice of the holy oblation. 
And since that good custom has spread, they have lately 
built and consecrated a church there, which has attached 
additional sanctity and honour to that place/* 

d Bede's Ecclesiastical History, b. III. ch. ii. Giles's translation. 





KEM 






>. 








THE WALL AT BRUNTON. 169 

A little to the south of the road, at St. Oswald's- 
hill-head, is F alio wfield -fell, where the Written- 
rock, of which an engraving is given, page 102, may- 
yet be seen. The face of the rock occupied by the 
inscription is four feet long ; the letters are distinct.' 
Continuing to descend the hill, we come to Plane- 
tree-field, where on the left of the road, a conspicuous 
piece of the Wall remains. It is about thirty-six 
yards long, and has, in some places, five courses of 
facing-stones entire ; the grout of the interior which 
rises still higher, gives root to some fine old thorns. 
This sight may be rendered more interesting by the 
antiquary's carrying his eye forward, and tracing the 
Wall in its onward course ; in its modern represen- 
tative, the turnpike road, it is seen, (having crossed 
the North Tyne, and passed the station of Cilurnum,) 
bounding up the opposite hill in its usual unflinch- 
ing manner, and making for the wastes and mount- 
ains which it is speedily to traverse. 

In the grounds of Brunton, a little below this, a 
small piece of the Wall is to be seen in a state of 
very great perfection. It is seven feet high, and 
presents nine courses of facing-stones entire. The 
mortar of the five lower courses is good ; the face 
of the south side is gone. The ditch also is here well 
developed. The opposite lithograph gives an accurate 

• Although a walk of a few minutes will bring the traveller, 
who knows exactly whither to bend his steps, to this curious 
relic, a stranger may fruitlessly spend much time in examining 
the many low scars which diversify the surface of the fell. It is 
a deeply interesting object. 



170 BRIDGE OVER THE NORTH TYNE. 

representation of what Hutton calls ' this grand 
exhibition.' The altar which, at present, stands as 
it is placed in the drawing, formerly discharged 
the office of a gate-post at the entry of the yard of 
St. Oswald's chapel. 

For some reason, which it is hard to divine, the 
turnpike road now recedes from the Wall, and crosses 
the river at Chollerford, nearly half-a-mile above the 
spot where the Roman bridge spanned it. 

The remains of this bridge may yet be seen when 
the water is low, and the surface smooth. There 
seem to have been three piers of considerable size and 
solidity, set diagonally to the stream. The stones 
composing them are large, regularly squared, and 
fastened with metallic cramps/ Luis -holes, indicat- 
ing the mode in which they have been lowered into 
their bed, appear in several of them. The firmness 
with which these foundation courses still retain the 
position assigned to them by the soldiers of Hadrian 
is very remarkable ; the rolling floods of sixteen 
hundred winters seem to have spent their rage upon 
them almost in vain. As the eastern side of the river 

S The cramps seem to have been of various kinds. Some au- 
thors speak of iron cramps. One antiquary, I know, spent a live- 
long summer's day knee-deep in the water, extracting one which 
proved to be entirely of lead. A. cramp, of very curious form and 
structure, taken from this bridge, is preserved in the museum at 
Chesters, and is figured Plate VII. fig. 1 . ; it seems to have been triply 
dove-tailed ; the substance of it is iron, but it has been coated all 
over to the thickness of one-eighth of an inch with lead. The 
iron would give the instrument tenacity, and the lead protect the 
more corrosive metal from oxidization ; truly the Romans built 
for perpetuity. 




ilTiH H 


t 


- 


mWiS3E 






° IT §3 





CILURNUM. 171 

is frequently overflowed, the Vallum is here obliter- 
ated, but probably both works approached the bridge 
in close companionship. On the western side, ap- 
pearances still bear out Horsley's statement, that the 
1 Wall falls upon the middle of the fort, and Hadrian's 
Valium, as usual, falls in with the south side of it. ' 

A plan of Cilurnum, and adjoining works, as fig- 
ured by Warburton, is given in Plate II. Probably, 
few who examine it attentively will question the just- 
ness of the conclusion to which he has arrived, that 
the Wall, Vallum, stations, castles, and turrets, ' by 
their mutual relation to one another, must have been 
one entire, united defence, or fortification.' 

We are now arrived at the station called in the 
locality, Chesters, but by Horsley named, for the 
sake of distinction, Walwick-chesters. An attentive 
examination of it will well reward the antiquary. 

CILURNUM. — This station has, as usual, the 
form of a parallelogram, the corners being slightly 
rounded off. It contains an area of fully six acres. 
In the latter part of the last century, when the man- 
sion and estate of Chesters came into the possession 
of the family of Clayton, this area was covered with 
the ruins of buildings which had apparently stood 
in strait, narrow streets, and although the surface 
of the station has since been levelled and made 
smooth, in order to fit it for its use as part of 
the park, yet its ramparts and fosse, the Wall 
and Vallum as they approach and leave it, and 
the road leading to the river, may all be distinctly 



172 CILURNUM. 

discerned; even the ruined dwellings of the in- 
terior area, as if dissatisfied with their lowly condi- 
tion, struggle to rear themselves into notice. A 
portion of the Wall, near the north-west angle, has 
been freed from the encumbering soil ; it is five 
feet thick, and exhibits four courses of masonry in 
excellent preservation. 

Hutchinson was struck with the linear character 
which the ruined streets of this fort had in his time, 
and was reminded, by their appearance, of the 
arrangements of the Polybian camp. This will be 
observed in a greater or less degree in all the sta- 
tions, and there cannot be a. doubt but that the dwel- 
lings were arranged in rows parallel to the four sides 
of the stations, and hence, intersecting each other at 
right angles. It was necessary that the Roman camp, 
whether of a temporary or permanent character, 
should be nearly uniform in its plan. If the troops 
rested but for a night, each man knew the part he 
had to fill in preparing the fortification, and could 
set about it at once ; in the event of a sudden at- 
tack in the darkness of the night, each knew his 
position, though he may never have rested upon 
the spot before. 

Suburban buildings have occupied the space be- 
tween the station and the river, and ruins more 
extensive than usual are spread over the ground to 
the south. There is no appearance of any habita- 
tions having been erected to the north of the Wall. 
Whenever the surface of the contiguous ground is 
broken, fragments of Samian ware and other marks 
of Roman occupation appear. 



CHESTERS. 173 

Two remains of great interest are found within the 
station. One of these is an underground vault near 
the middle. Its masonry is rough, and somewhat 
peculiar ; the sides incline slightly inwards, but the 
roof, instead of being uniformly vaulted, is formed 
of three ribs arched in the usual manner, and the 
intervals between them are in technical language — 
'stepped over/ that is, the stones of each course are 
made to project inwards a little, until, at length, one 
laid on the top completes the junction. The wood- 
cut, which is here introduced, together with the fol- 




lowing extract from Hodgson's description of it, will 
give a tolerably correct idea of this curious structure. 

This vault, when it was first found, was supposed to have 
been the iErarium of the station. Between the joinings of 
the floor, which were of thin free-stone flags, were found several 
counterfeit denarii, both of copper and iron plated with silver. 



174 



CILURNUM, 



The approach to it was by four steps downwards, the lowest of 
which was a large centurial stone, which had borne an inscrip- 
tion, but nearly all of it had been purposely erased. On the 
outside of the threshold was found, in a sadly decayed state, 
its original door of wood, strongly sheathed with plates of 
iron, and the whole firmly rivetted together with large square 
nails. Within the door, which had opened inwards, the end 
wall was two feet thick, plastered and painted. Its internal 
area is ten feet by nine, and its height to the crown of the 
arch six feet four inches/ 

Some buildings situated near to the spot where 
the eastern gateway must be, and which have re- 
cently been freed from the earth and rubbish that 
have long enveloped them, are objects of still greater 
interest. Their general appearance, as seen from a 
slight elevation, is shewn in the adjoining wood-cut, 




while, for a more minute knowledge of their size 
and arrangements, reference may be made to the 
plan on the opposite page. Eight apartments have 

9 History of Northumberland, II. iii. 180. 




Ground-plan, Hypocaust, Cilurncjm; 



THE HYPOCAUSTS. 177 

already been exposed, and a little more research 
would doubtless display others. 

Descending a few steps (at L in the Plan), a 
street three feet wide at one extremity, and four at 
the other, is entered. Another, leading from it at 
right-angles, and which is paved with flag- stones, 
conducts to the grand entrance (D) of what ap- 
pears to be the principal section of the building. 
The steps are very much worn down by the tread 
of feet, and even some of the stones, which have 
evidently been put in the place of others that 
have been too much abraded to be serviceable, 
exhibit partial wear. This saloon must have been 
a place of general concourse — -can it have been 
the hall of justice, or the place where the com- 
mander of the station transacted the business of the 
district under his charge ? The floor (E) is proba- 
bly supported on pillars, and has been warmed by 
flues beneath ; but this cannot be ascertained with- 
out injuring it. The upper covering is of flags, the 
fractured state of which induces the belief, that the 
walls of the surrounding building have been forcibly 
thrown down upon them. The northern enemies of 
Rome, knowing the importance of these stations, 
would not be slow in involving them in entire ruin, 
when permitted, by the withdrawal of the troops, to 
do so without molestation. Passages diverge from 
this saloon, to the right and left, into other apart- 
ments. In the room on the left was found, in 
good preservation, a cistern or bath (C), lined with 
red cement. A breach had been made in the street 

2 A 



178 



CILURNUM 




wall of this chamber (at B), and in the rubbish which 
encumbered the gap, was found the statue of a river- 
god, of which a 
correct sketch is 
here given. It is 
probably intend- 
ed to represent 
the genius of the 
neighbouring ri- 
ver — the North 
Tyne. Although 

executed in coarse sand-stone, it is not without con- 
siderable gracefulness of attitude and proportion. It is 
preserved in the mansion at Chesters. Of the present 
state of the apartments beyond, the wood-cut in the 
previous page, and the lithograph here introduced, will 
give an accurate conception. The floors have been 
supported upon pillars, some of them being of stone, 
others of square flat bricks. The stone pillars are, 
for the most part, fragments of columns and balusters 
which have been used in a prior structure. 'Xh.e 
student of mediaeval architecture will probably re- 
cognise in some of them types of the Saxon style. 
The dilapidated state of the floor of this apartment 
allows of an easy examination of its mode of con- 
struction. Flags, about two inches thick, rest upon 
the pillars; a layer of compost, five inches thick, and 
formed of lime, sand, gravel, and burned clay or 
pounded tile, succeeds, and above that, another cover- 

h The initial L, page 103, is formed of two of these Roman balus- 
ters. The lower one is at Chesters, the upright one at Chesterholm. 







"wfe^ 




THE HYPOCAUSTS. 179 

ing of thin flag-stones.; This apartment has been 
provided with a semicircular recess at its eastern ex- 
tremity (G), and, at the angle next the street (A), has 
been supported by a buttress. A similar alcoved 
recess existed on the western side of one of the 
principal rooms of the ' baths' at Hunnum, and the 
same arrangement may yet be observed in the cor- 
responding building at Lanchester. All of these 
buildings have been strengthened with buttresses, 
but it is only in these and analogous cases, that the 
use of the buttress is admitted among the erections 
of the Barrier ; it never occurs in the great Wall or 
the curtain-walls of the stations. In the circular re- 
cess of this apartment is an aperture (G), which 
probably has served to regulate the current of air 
circulating in the hypocausts. The furnace which 
warmed the suite of apartments was situated near 
the south-east extremity of the building (at F) ; the 
pillars near the fire having been much acted upon 
by the heat, the whole of this part of the floor was 
reduced, on exposure to the frosts of winter, to the 
confused heap represented in the drawing. The 
soot in the flues was found as fresh as if it had 
been produced by fires lighted the day before.* 
The walls of this apartment were coated with plaster, 
and coloured dark red; exposure to the weather 

* The section of the hypocaust wall on Plate III. is taken from 
this example, and shews the hanging floor. 

* See an interesting ' Account of an Excavation recently made 
within the Roman Station at Cilurnum, by John Clayton, esq.' in 
the Archeeologia iEliana, iii. 142. 



180 CILURNUM. 

soon stripped them of this covering. An arched 
passage curiously turned with Roman tile took the 
heated air from the furnace through the party-wall 
(at X) into the chamber to the west of it. The 
rooms to the westward of the intersecting street 
(HD), seem to form an independent building, and 
have less of the aspect of a place of public con- 
course than the other portions. They may have 
been the private residence of the commander of the 
station. They, too, are heated by hypocausts. 

In urging the conviction, that the hanging floors 
of these Roman buildings were meant to produce a 
comfortable warmth, rather than to generate steam, 
by having water sprinkled upon them, attention 
may be drawn to the thickness of their substance. 
At present, the floor of the principal apartment 
is nine inches thick, and when its upper surface 
was overlaid, as it no doubt was, with a tasteful 
concrete or mosaic pavement, it would be an inch 
or two more. It would require a very powerful fur- 
nace to raise this mass of matter to a considerable 
temperature. On the other hand, if the production 
of a genial and uniform warmth were the object in 
view, no contrivance could be more suitable. The 
heated air from a small furnace permeating the un- 
derground flues and the walls of a suite of apart- 
ments, and not passing off until, in its lengthened 
passage, it had given out the larger part of the 
warmth it had derived, would, in the lapse of some 
hours, give to the whole building a comfortable tem- 
perature, which it would not readily lose. Any in- 



METHOD OF WARMING BUILDINGS. 181 

attention to the furnace, either by causing it to burn 
too fiercely or too feebly, would not be felt. The 
thickness of the floors would prevent the air from 
being scorched, and producing that disagreeable sen- 
sation which is experienced in rooms that are heated 
by the stoves in common use. It is not improbable 
that we may return to this method of warming our 
churches and public halls, even if we do not adopt it in 
our private buildings/ 

The door-ways of some of these apartments have 
been provided with double doors, probably for more 
effectually maintaining the warmth of the room. 

The masonry of those portions of the walls which 
are standing, is in an excellent state of preservation. 
In the angle near the buttress (A), the action of 
the trowel in giving the finishing touch to the 
pointing may be perceived. The walls rest upon 
two strong basement courses, the angle of the upper- 
most being bevelled off with a neat moulding. 

1 The improved method of making draining-tiles for agricultural 
uses has suggested the formation of hollow bricks for building pur- 
poses. A floor might be paved and side-walls formed of these, so 
as readily to admit of the circulation of air throughout the whole 
substance* of the apartment, and a handful of coke or charcoal, 
placed at the entrance of the flue, would effectually warm the whole. 
Specimens of bricks of this kind, remarkably strong, and inge- 
niously contrived for securely locking into one another, are before 
me, for which I am indebted to Robert Rawlinson, esq., after 
whose design they were formed. The Latin comedy represents the 
miser begrudging the smoke that escaped from his chimney — well 
may the benevolent man regret that whilst his poor neighbours are 
bending under the chills of winter, three-fourths of the heat 
generated in his parlour-grate is absolutely wasted. 



182 CILURNUM. 

Some of the quoins of the door-ways consist of very- 
large stones ; one is six feet long, and is probably a 
ton in weight. This proves that it was not from 
lack of mechanical means that the interior buildings 
and walls of the stations were composed of small 
stones. More than one of the thresholds have a 
groove very roughly cut in them, apparently to allow of 
the egress of water. This has probably been done 
after the departure of the Romans and the general 
demolition of the buildings, by some houseless wan- 
derers, who, having ' camped' in the ruin, were 
incommoded by the lodgement of rain on the floor. 

The hydraulic properties of the concrete used in 
the floors of Roman hypocausts, has, I believe, es- 
caped the notice of previous writers, and is the only 
other point which need longer detain us in this in- 
teresting building. My attention was drawn to this 
subject by my brother, Mr. George Barclay Bruce, 
Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in 
the following communication : — 

In many places on the line of the Wall, the mortar has had 
mixed with it broken tiles or burned clay, to assist it in resist- 
ing the moisture of the atmosphere. 

The concrete at Chesters placed between the slabs of the 
bath-room, has a very large proportion of this burned clay, 
and would thus be better suited to resist the action of heat 
below and water above than purer lime. 

A portion of this concrete was taken, by way of experiment, 
and burned in a crucible, as though it had been a piece of lime- 
stone ; it was then ground fine, and mixed with a proper 
quantity of water ; after being allowed to dry for three or 
four hours, it was immersed in water, where it set in the same 
manner as common mortar does in the open air, clearly prov- 



THE CEMETERY. 183 

ing its hydraulic properties. The same experiment was tried 
with the ordinary mortar of the Wall, but without the same 
result, there not being a sufficiently large quantity of burned 
clay to enable it to stand so severe a test. In the case of the 
concrete, it did not set so readily as what is called Roman 
cement, but sufficiently so to prove that it is a strong hydrau- 
lic mortar, made by the mixture of burned clay with common 
lime. 

Bidding farewell to these interesting structures, we 
may now bend our steps a short way down the river, 
on a visit to the cypress-grove — the burial ground of 
the station. This, which in Horsley's days formed 
a separate field called the Ox-close, is now included 
in the park of the domain. Never was spot more 
appropriately chosen. The river here descends with 
more than usual rapidity over its stony bed, and 
bending at the same time to the left, exhibits to the 
eye the lengthened vista of its well-wooded banks. 
No earthly music could better soothe the chafed affec- 
tions of the hopeless heathen mourner than the 
murmur of the stream which is ceaselessly heard in 
this secluded nook. From this spot have been pro- 
cured several sepulchral slabs which will presently 
afford us instruction; meantime, one is given on the 
next page whose lesson is of a negative character. The 
blank memorial shews how vain are the efforts which 
even affection makes to render buoyant on the wave of 
time the memory of those departed. Our very monu- 
ments need memorials. But, passing this, the charac- 
ter of the carving betokens a poor state of the arts, 
and fixes its date in the lowest times of the empire : in 
this we have a proof of the long-continued occupa- 



184 



CILURNUM. 



tion of the station. The fate of the stone has been 
singular. When Horsley saw it, the inscription was 
legible ; but having since been used as the door- 
stone of the cow-house at Walwick Grange, the 
letters had, previous to its removal to Alnwick-castle 
(its present resting place), been entirely obliterated. 




Between the station and the cemetery is a well 
enclosed with Roman masonry ; it is now in a great 
measure filled up. 



ITS NAME ASCERTAINED. 



185 



The station of Cilurnum, which is the sixth on 
the line of the Wall, was garrisoned by the second 
wing of the Astures, (a regiment of Spanish cavalry) 
commanded by a prefect. This fact has gradually 
developed itself to the antiquary. Camden thought 
it probable. Horsley concurred in the opinion, 
and, in the absence of better evidence, sagaciously 
referred to the tombstone of which a drawing is 
here presented, 
in proof of its hav- 
ing been occupied 
by a horse regi- 
ment. ' That some 
horse,' says he, 
' kept garrison 
here in the lower 
empire, seems to 
be probable from 
the inscription 
and sculpture yet 
remainingatWal- / 



wick - grange."" 
'The letters D. 
M./ he remarks 
in another place, 
' prove this to be a sepulchral monument, and the 
figure shews that the deceased belonged to the 
horse, and therefore probably was one of the Ala se- 
cunda Astorum, which in the lower empire kept gar- 
rison at Cilurnum, as the Notitia informs us. T 




m Now at Alnwick- castle. 



2 B 



186 



CILURNUM. 



More decisive evidence has since been procured. 
The slab figured on page 61, is part of it. A still 
more satisfac- 
tory document 
of stone was 
discovered at 
Chesters seve- 
ral years ago, 
where it is still 
preserved : the 
wood -cut ac- 
curately por- 
trays it. 




J JTOREr OEL. 



JB UTTINtt 5-C 



imp[eratori] caes[ari] masco avrel[io] 

AUg[vSTO] PONTIF1CI MAXIMO 

trib[vnitia] p[otestate] co[n]s[vli] iv p[atri] p[atri.e] div[i] antonini FILIO 
divi sever[i] nep[oti] 

CAESAR[l] IMPER[ATORl] DU FLARES 

AL.E ii astvrt[m] templum vetvstat[e] conlapsum restitu- 

ERVNT PER MARIUM VALER[lANUM] LEGATUM AUOUSTALEM PROPRJETOREM 

IKSTANTE SEPTIMIO NILO PR^FECTO] 

DEDIOATVM III KAL[ENDAS] N0VEM[BRIS] GRATO ET SELE[tCo] CONSVLIBUS* 



To the emperor Marcus Aurelius 

Augustus Pontifex Maximus, 

With tribunitian power, fourth time Consul, Father of his Country, of divine 
Of the deified Severus the grandson, [Antoninus the son, 

To Caesar our emperor the duplares f 

Of the second wing of Astures, this temple, through age dilapidated, re- 
stored by command of Marius Valerianus, Imperial Legate and Propraetor, 
Under the superintendence of Septimius Nilus, Prefect. 
Dedicated Oct. 30th, in the consulate of Grratus and Seleucus. 



* The words printed in italics have heen supplied from contemporaneous inscriptions ; they 
can scarcely be said to be conjectural readings. 



f Soldiers who by their good conduct had earned a double allowance of corn or pay. 



VALUE OF INSCRIPTIONS. 187 

Hutton, who has done such good service to the 
Wall, under-rated the value of inscriptions. ' When 
the antiquary/ says he, 'has laboured through a par- 
cel of miserable letters, what is he the wiser?' — Let 
this fractured and defaced stone answer the question." 
1. This dedication was made by soldiers of the second 
wing of the Astures ; — we thus learn the name of the 
people who garrisoned the fort, and by a reference 
to the Notitia, ascertain with certainty that this was 
Cilurnum. 2. We acquire the fact, that a temple, 
which through age had become dilapidated, was re- 
stored ; — learning thereby, not only the attention 
which the Romans paid to what they conceived to 
be religious duties, but their long occupation of this 
spot. It has been already observed, that some of 
the pillars of the hypocaust have been portions of a 
prior building; — the ruin and inscription thus corrob- 
orate each other. 3. The date of the dedication is 
given ; the third of the calends of November falls 
upon the thirtieth of October, and the year in which 
Gratus and Seleucus were consuls corresponds to 
A.D. 221 ; — the data on which antiquaries found 
their conclusions, are not always so vague as some 
imagine. 4. Even the erasures are instructive. By 
a reference to the date, we find that Heliogabalus 
was reigning at the time of the dedication of the tem- 
ple ; we find that what remain of the names and 
titles on the stone apply to him ; he, consequently, 
is the emperor referred to. The year following he 
was slain by his own soldiers, his body dragged 

Hodgson learnedly explains this inscription — Arch. iEl. i. 128. 



188 CILURNUM. 

through the streets and cast into the Tiber. The 
soldiers in Britain seem to have sympathized 
with their companions at Rome and to have erased 
the name of the fallen emperor from the dedicatory 
slab. Human nature is the same in every age. How 
often have we, in modern times, seen a name cast 
out with loathing which yesterday received the in- 
cense of a world's flattery ! 

The above inscription gives us the station of the Ala 
secunda Asturum, in the reign of Heliogabalus, A.D. 
221. The Notitia Imperii gives us its station in the 
reign of Theodosius the younger, ' ultra tempus Area- 
dii et Honorii,' A.D. 430, and we find at both periods 
the same force in the same station, which corresponds 
with the understood practice of the Roman army with 
regard to the permanency of the quarters of its aux- 
iliary forces. With reference to the difference between 
the spelling of the inscription and the Notitia, ' As- 
turum ' and * Astorum,' it may be observed that as 
the Notitia Imperii was preserved for a thousand 
years in manuscript before the art of printing came 
to its rescue, it is more likely that the error should 
be in the book, than on the stone. 

The ancient name of the station having been ascer- 
tained, the etymology of it may be inquired into. 
Whitaker says it means a creek. An authority ac- 
quainted with the Gaelic language suggests the 
following derivation ; caol, narrow, probably pro- 
nounced by the Romans kit, and doir, water (in 
composition dhoir, the dh not sounded) ; so that 
caol-oir is narrow stream ; the um is a usual Latin 
affix. Of course, this branch of the Tyne is narrow 



ROMAN SCULPTURES. 



189 



in comparison with the united floods. The word 
may have had an Italian origin; the Latin celer, swift, 
has some resemblance to it, and the river, when 
swollen by floods, very speedily discharges its su- 
perfluous water. Whatever be the origin of the 
word, the names of the neighbouring places, Chol- 
lerton and Chollerford, have had a similar derivation. 
The miscellaneous antiquities which have been 
found here, and are still preserved upon the spot, 
are of a very interesting character. Chief among 
them is a broken statue, which is here represented 
The fragment, consisting of 
a fine-grained sandstone, 
is six feet two inches 
long. Statues of so large 
a size are of very rare oc- 
currence in Roman camps 
in Britain. It is generally 
supposed to have been 
meant for Cybele, the mo- 
ther of the gods. The 
gracefulness of the design, 
and the excellence of the 
execution, show us that 
the state of the arts in 
Roman Britain was not so 
low as is sometimes sup- 
posed. The arrangement 
of the drapery, and the 
ornament placed upon its 
margins, are suggestive of 
the mode in which these details were managed in 




0. STOREY. 4.1, 



190 



CILURNUM, 



the statues of the early ecclesiastical architects. 
The ancient builders professedly followed the Ro- 
man modes. 

The fine Corinthian capital, which is here shewn, 




'or^ GS 



<S^, 



enables us to judge of the beauty of some of the 
buildings which adorned the ancient Cilurnum. In 
the drawing, it rests upon one of the foundation 
stones of the bridge ; on the right-hand side of the 
group are two centurial stones, inscribed — 

c[entvrta] val[erii] The century (or company) of Valerius 
maxi[mij Maximus 

[centveiaJ rvfi sabi The century of Rufus Sabi- 

ni nus. 

On the top of these is a pipe of red earthenware. 



MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES. 191 

Preserved in the collection here, is a tile of the 
usual Roman fabrication, on which are impressed 
the foot-marks of a dog, seemingly of the terrier 
species. The animal must have run over it while 
the clay was in a soft state. Plate VIII. fig. 4. 

In making the excavations at the hypocausts, 
many coins of silver and brass were found. They 
extend from the reign of Hadrian to that of 
Gratian ; those of Constantine and his immediate 
successors prevail. A massive silver signet ring, re- 
presenting, on a cornelian stone, a cock pecking at an 
an ear of corn, was found in one of the rooms. As 
is uniformly the case, numerous fragments of the 
different kinds of pottery used by the Romans were 
turned up ; some of the fragments of vessels of Sa- 
mian ware are figured on Plate IX. A key, fig. 4. an 
iron implement with springs on each side of it, 
fig. 1. and a spear head fig. 3. drawn on Plate X., 
were found here. Some soles of sandals, similar in 
character to those which will afterwards be des- 
cribed, several glass beads of curious fabrication, 
and broken pieces of glass vessels, were picked up. 
A piece of cut glass procured here is shewn in 
Plate VII. fig. 10. One of the most curious relics ob- 
tained from this treasury of Roman effects was the 
tooth of a bear ; it is of a large size, and is pierced 
with two holes to enable its possessor to suspend it 
by a string, and wear it as a trophy or a charm on 
his person. It is figured of the full size in Plate VIII. 
Bears, as well as wolves, prowled in the forests of 
ancient Britain, and no doubt the formidable animal 



192 CILURNUM. 

which yielded this tusk, cost its captor a severe 
struggle. 

Not the least interesting of the circumstances of a 
place of very early occupation, are the traditions 
of the ' ancients' respecting it. Notwithstanding 
their rudeness, some latent truth may generally 
be educed from them ; and they always manifest 
the modes of thought that prevailed in former times. 
Sixty years ago the traditions of the Wall might easily 
have been gathered, but now the old men have nearly 
forgotten the tales with which their ' fore-elders' used 
to entertain them on a winter's evening. The pro- 
ducts of the press have nearly superseded this unlet- 
tered lore. A few fragments relative to Cilurnum 
have, however, been supplied to me. A belief used 
to prevail, that there existed a subterranean stable 
under the camp capable of containing five hundred 
horse. It was, moreover, currently related, that 
beneath the river a tunnel was formed, which led to 
the opposite side. There is a pool in the vicinity of 
the station, on its western side, called the Ingle- 
pool, and which, until partially filled up a few 
years ago, was very deep ; the peasantry believed, 
that it derived its supplies by an underground canal 
from the North Tyne, at Nunwick-mill, between 
three and four miles up the river. 

In these traditions we may perhaps recognise 
the facts, that a regiment of horse garrisoned the 
station ; that the Romans carefully maintained the 
means of intercourse with both sides of the river ; 
and that, if in this instance they did not, which is by 



CHESTERS. 193 

no means certain, in others they undoubtedly did 
bring water from great distances, either for the 
purpose of sustenance, or to strengthen their position. 
We must now take leave of Cilurnum. What- 
ever may be the views of the reader, the visitor will 
do so with regret. As Hodgson well remarks, l The 
Astures, in exchanging the sunny valleys of Spain 
for the banks of the tawny Tyne, might find the cli- 
mate in their new situation worse, but a lovelier spot 
than Cilurnum all the Asturias could not give them.' 
During many days spent in the prosecution of my 
inquiries here — the beauty of the landscape, the 
instructive nature of the ruins, and the pleasant 
intercourse which I was privileged to enjoy with the 
hospitable family at the hall, combined to make a 
deep impression upon my mind. 

Again we bend our steps westward. Behind the 
garden wall at Chesters stands a fragment of the 
Wall. The north fosse is filled with water. As- 
cending the hill which leads to Walwick, the earth 
works are seen on the left hand. When near the 
top of it, our out-door antiquary, while he pauses 
for breath, will do well to look back, and contemplate 
the scene he is leaving. The lines of the Barrier 
are seen boldly descending the well-wooded and fer- 
tile banks on the east side of the river. Warden- 
hill is to the south, and will attract attention by its 
elevation. Its summit is seen still to bear marks 
of having been occupied by the aborigines of Britain. 
Whilst the works of the Barrier were going on, they 

2 c 



194 WARDEN-FELL. 

may have maintained their position for a while, and, 
from behind their entrenchments, scowled upon the 
intruders who were soon to drive them to the remoter 
region of the Cheviots. After watering both sides 
of the tongue of land of which Warden-fell consists, 
the North and South Tyne meet, and their waters 
roll on in a united stream to the Emporium of the 
North. We can follow it with the eye for some dis- 
tance, as it goes sparkling in the sunshine, spreading 
fertility and beauty on either hand. 

ye dales 

Of Tyne and ye most ancient woodlands ; where 
Oft as the giant flood obliquely strides, 
And his banks open, and his lawns extend, 
Stops short the pleased traveller to view, 
Presiding o'er the scene, some rustic tower, 
Founded by Norman or by Saxon hands. 

Nestled in the fairest part of the valley is the 
abbey church of Hexham; closely inspected, it is 
found to be a chaste specimen of the most simple 
and beautiful of our ecclesiastical styles — the early 
English, and, when viewed from a distance, as in 
this case, its venerable towers lend a quiet charm 
to the landscape. 

How different the scene which the Romans be- 
held ! In their day, and for long afterwards, the 
painful cultivator of the soil knew not who should 
reap the harvest ; those only, therefore, who had 
power to protect themselves would engage in the 
occupation. Now, the husbandman dreams not of 
a foreign foe, or of troops of lawless marauders ; 



TOWER-TAY. 195 

steadily he evokes the riches of the soil, and some- 
thing like an Eden smiles ! 

A strip of the Wall, though in a disordered state, 
and covered with brushwood, is in a field beyond 
Walwick ; its fosse is finely developed. 

Ascending the next hill, called Tower Tay, the 
earth-works are still very conspicuous. About half 
way up are the ruins of a tower, erected about a 
century ago, as an object in the landscape. It stands 
on the Wall, and has been entirely formed out of its 
stones. At the summit, the ditches of both Wall 
and Vallum are cut through the native rock, of 
which the hill consists, and are in excellent order. 
The Wall stands very near the edge of a scar, suffi- 
ciently elevated to have formed of itself a defence ; 
it is remarkable that the Romans should have thought 
it necessary to draw a ditch on the north side of it 
at all. 

Looking forward from the top of this hill, we see, 
for a considerable distance, all the lines of the Bar- 
rier proceeding on their course; descending one hill 
and ascending the opposite, called the Limestone- 
bank, they keep perfectly parallel. It would have 
delighted Horsley's heart to notice that the present 
road runs upon the north agger of the Vallum, 
maintaining, as he did, that this was the Military 
Way of Agricola. 

At a short distance, further in advance, the ruins 
of a mile-castle are seen on the right. The whole of 
the facing-stones are gone, as is usually the case, and 
the place where it stood is chiefly marked by the 



196 TEPPER-MOOR. 

vacuity occasioned by their removal. This cas- 
tellum measures, inside, fifty-four feet from east to 
west, and sixty-one from north to south ; it has been 
protected by a fosse. A long range of the Wall is 
next seen in the Black-carts farm, in an encouraging 
state of preservation ; it is between five and six feet 
high, and shews, in some places, seven courses of 
facing- stones. 

On the summit of the next hill, many objects of 
great interest await us. The view from it is most 
extensive. To the north, a vast sweep of country 
meets the eye; a beautiful undulated valley occu- 
pies the foreground, behind it the hills rise boldly, 
and the lofty Cheviots bound the scene. Chipchase 
castle occupies a commanding position. The modern 
mansion of Nunwick, embowered in wood, selects 
the lower ground. Towards the west, the lofty crags 
traversed by the Wall come into view. 

In the corner of a field adjoining the road, are the 
remains of another mile-castle ; it measures fifty- 
seven feet by fifty-four. Horsley says, it was de- 
tached about a yard from the Wall, the reason of 
which was not very obvious. A portion of the 
Roman Military Way may here be seen as it curves 
towards the gateway of the castellum, and again 
recedes from it. A good section of it is obtained 
at the margin of the places where its stones have 
been removed to form the stone dikes of the field. 

The fosse of the Wall and Vallum at this point 
deserve attentive examination. In passing over the 
crown of the hill, thev have been excavated with 



TEPPER-MOOR. 197 

enormous labour out of the basalt of which the sum- 
mit consists. The workmen, as if exhausted with 
the task of raising the splintered fragments, have 
left them lying on the sides of the moats. A mass 
on the outside of the north ditch, though now split 
by the action of the frost into three pieces, has evi- 
dently formed one block, and cannot weigh less than 
thirteen tons. It is not easy to conceive how they 
managed to quarry so tough a rock without the aid 
of gunpowder, or contrived to lift, with the ma- 
chinery at their command, such huge blocks. No 
luis-holes appear in them. 

The lithograph presents a view of the giant works 
of the Vallum and fosse at this point. It is quite 
evident that here, at least, the north agger did not 
form the Military Way. There are several breaks 
and irregularities in both the mounds ; the works 
have probably been left by the Romans in a rough, 
unfinished state. 

Between this spot and the craggy summit on 
which Sewingshields farm-house is perched, the 
ground is flat, and destitute of any decided descent 
to the north. On this account, and for mutual de- 
fence, the lines of the Barrier keep close together, 
so close, sometimes, as scarcely to leave room for 
the passage of the Military Way between them. 

PROCOLITIA is the seventh stationary camp 
on the line of the Wall. It was garrisoned by the 
first Batavian cohort, which, with two others from 
the same country, and the two Tungrian cohorts, 



198 PROCOLITIA. 

was with Agricola in his great battle with Galgacus 
in the Grampian Hills. That the ruined camp at 
Carrawburgh was the adopted home of this cohort, 
is proved by the altar engraved on page 62, and by 
the fractured slab now introduced, and which was 
found here in the year 1838. On this 
mutilated stone, the words coh i bata- 
vorvm are quite distinct, and are of J| 
themselves sufficient, not only to fix /,, l^ 
the site of the ancient Procolitia, 
but to corroborate the testimony of 
Tacitus, on the presence of r 
Batavians in Britain during ^&'\K''^\^T^.r^ 
the period of Roman occupa- |f&n':3|g^Q[\v\^ 
tion. The line following may \ifvM~M"k\ 
probably be read insttantie ^Mf^'M 
bvrrio, and bears the name of 
the prefect under whose super- 
intendence the building was erected, to which the 
slab referred. In the last line, the word co[rneliano 
may be perceived. In 237, when Maximinus was 
emperor, Titius Perpetuus and Rusticus Cornelianus 
were consuls. That this is the date of the inscrip- 
tion is rendered likely from a fragment of this em- 
peror's name appearing in the beginning of it. 

Whitaker gives, as the meaning of the word 
Procolitia, the ' fortress in the woodlands.' In the 
Gaelic tongue, coille signifies a wood. 

Preserved in the interesting collection at Chesters. 



CARRAWBURGH. 199 

There is little in this station to detain us. The 
course of its ramparts and moats can be easily traced, 
and the rich green sward of its area is seen to cover 
numerous irregular heaps of ruins ; every building, 
however, is prostrate; scarcely one stone is left upon 
another. The Wall forms the northern boundary 
of the station ; its eastern and western gateways are, 
as usual, opposite to each other, but strike the side 
walls between the upper end and the middle. The 
position of the southern gateway cannot be detected ; 
in the present state of the ruins, there is no appear- 
ance of one. The southern corners are rounded off, 
but the side walls of the station, in joining the Murus 
on the north, seem to preserve their rectilinear 
course. Outside the western wall are the ruins of 
the suburbs. A natural valley, consisting at pre- 
sent of boggy ground, gives strength to the fortifica- 
tion on this side. Horsley saw a well in the slack, 
cased with Roman masonry; it is now removed. 

No modern habitation is on the ground or in its 
immediate vicinity to relieve the general desolation — 

here, as in the wild, 

The day is silent, dreary as the night ; 

None stirring save the herdsman and his herd, 

or they that would explore, 

Discuss and learnedly. 

Passing onwards, we soon reach the farm-house 
of Carraw, formerly a rural retreat of the priors of 
Hexham. On the crown of the next elevation, the 
works are brought into close proximity, apparently 



200 THE GREAT MURAL RIDGE. 

for the purpose of avoiding an extensive bog on the 
north, and of maintaining possession of the point of 
the hill on the south. The earth-works are very 
boldly developed, but are in a ragged state. The 
contents of the north fosse are piled up high on its 
outer margin. The fosse of the Vallum is cut through 
free-stone rock; its southern agger is very elevated, 
and would present a bold and angry front to any in- 
truder from the south. 

We must now, to adopt the language of Hutton, 
' quit the beautiful scenes of cultivation, and enter 
upon the rude of nature, and the wreck of antiquity.' 
Four great mountain waves are before us, and seem 
to chase each other to the north, on which side their 
crests rise almost perpendicularly. To the highest 
of these, the second from the south, the Wall directs 
its course. It is a ridge of basalt, which crosses the 
island obliquely, from Cumberland to Holy Island. 
The Vallum here parts company with the Wall, and 
takes the '• tail ' of the hill on the ' crag ' of which 
the other runs. The accompanying drawing shews 
the nature of the country before us. 

Before approaching Sewingshields p farm-house, 
which is on the line of Wall, an experienced eye 
will detect the Roman Military Way. It runs at 
first nearly parallel with the Wall, at about thirty - 
six paces from it, but, in its subsequent course, re- 
cedes from the Barrier, or approaches it, according 

p This peculiar term is probably derived from the Saxon Seuch, 
a furrow or fosse, and Shiel, a hut for those who have the care of 
cattle, and thus signifies, the cottage by the fosse. 




1 5 

B 
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Li 









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eg- 
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THE WALL ON THE CRAGS. 201 

to the position of the mile-castles, and the nature of 
the ground. With but few interruptions, it may be 
traced by the appearance of its herbage, by its 
slightly elevated, rounded form, and by the occa- 
sional protrusion of the stones composing it, all the 
way from Sewingshields to Thirl wall. 

The north fosse, which we have had in view from 
the very commencement of our journey, accom- 
panies the Wall for a short distance up the hill, as 
is seen in the lithograph, but when the ground becomes 
precipitous, it forsakes it until the high grounds 
are passed, only to appear when the Wall sinks into 
a gap or chasm between the crags. 

A difficulty will here present itself to nearly every 
mind ; why was the Wall drawn along the cliffs at 
all P Horsley cut the knot instead of untying it. ' As 
such steep rocks,' says he, i are a sufficient fence of 
themselves, I am inclined to think the Wall has not 
in those parts had either strength or thickness, equal 
to what it has had in other parts.' Present appear- 
ances give us no reason to suppose that the Wall on 
the crags was in any respect inferior to what it was 
in the low grounds. A different method of account- 
ing for the circumstance has been forced upon my 
attention. It was my fortune to traverse the heights 
near Sewingshields late in December last year, when 
the wind blew a violent gale from the north, and 
the thermometer, even in the valley ; was ten degrees 
below the freezing point. In order to maintain the 
ordinary temperature of the body, very active exer- 
tion was necessary, and to make any progress on 

2 D 



202 SEWINGSHIELDS. 

my way, I was constrained to get under the lee of 
the hill. The conclusion was irresistible ; if the 
Romans were to keep watch and ward here during 
the winter, a Wall was necessary, even though only for 
the sake of sheltering them from the blast. The 
habits of the enemy demanded continual vigilance ; 
for, as Tacitus tells us, before the time of Agricola 
they usually repaired the losses they had sustained 
in summer by the success of their winter ex- 
peditions. The loftier the mountain peak, the more 
necessary, in this view of it, was the friendly shelter of 
the Wall to the shivering soldiers of southern Europe. 

The Wall in the neighbourhood of Sewingshields 
is not in good condition ; its site is marked by the 
rubble which encumbers it, but the facing-stones 
are gone, having contributed to the erection of every 
building in the vicinity, from the time of Honorius 
to the present day. A considerable tract of it was 
removed lately. Thorough draining, the life of 
agriculture, is death to the Wall. 

The aspect of the country in the immediate vici- 
nity of the heights of Sewingshields is dreary enough, 
but the elevation enables the eye to revel in the fer- 
tility and beauty of the distant landscape. Hexham 
is distinctly discernible from the farm-house. On 
the flats to the north of the crags, there formerly 
stood the border fortress, Sewingshields castle. 5 It 

« It is reported in the neighbourhood, that Mrs. Spearman hav- 
ing dreamt that she found a rich hoard of treasure among the 
ruins of the castle, made diligent search for it, but without suc- 
cess. When the castle was removed, however, the farmer obtained a 
valuable deposit of mediaeval manure. 



MURAL TRADITIONS. 203 

was at one time the property of the late Ralph Spear- 
man, esq., the Monkbarns of The Antiquary. 

A situation so remote from the crowded haunts of 
men is favourable to the preservation of legendary 
lore. It occurred to me that here, if anywhere, I 
might ascertain the kind of ideas which the rude 
forefathers of the mural region entertained respecting 
the Wall and its builders. Although on the Anton- 
ine Wall all tradition of the Romans has been lost, 
this has certainly not been the case here ; the recol- 
lection of them is still distinctly preserved, and some 
stories of them are told, which, though in several re- 
spects resembling written history, are not derived from 
this source. For the following scraps of traditional in- 
formation, I am chiefly indebted to the master of 
Grindon school, in the immediate neighbourhood of 
Sewingshields, who says he has often heard them 
repeated. Though he denominates them 'absurd/ 
the learned in mediaeval legends will probably think 
them worth preserving. 

The Romans are said to have been remarkably lazy, so 
much so, that in the hot weather of summer, having almost 
nothing to do, they lay basking in the sun, on the south side 
of the Wall, almost in a state of torpor. The Scots were 
in the habit of watching their opportunity, and, throwing 
hooks, with lines attached to them, over the Wall, caught 
the poor Romans by their clothes or flesh, and by this means, 
dragging them to the other side, made them prisoners. 

An old man in this neighbourhood told me, that he had often 
heard people say, that the Romans had remarkably broad feet, 
with still broader shoes, and that, when it rained, they lay on 
their backs, and holding up their feet in a perpendicular 
direction, protected, by this means, their persons from the 



204 MURAL TRADITIONS. 

weather. — This legend, under various modifications, seems to 
have beeen widely diffused in the middle acres. Sir John 
Maundevile, describing ' Ethiope,' says — ' In that contree, 
ben folk that han but o foot ; and thei gon so fast, that it is 
marvaylle ; and the foot is so large, that it schadewethe all 
the body azen the sonne, whan they wole lye and reste hem.' 
Precisely similar to this is Pliny's account — ' Item hominum 
genus, qui Monoscelli vocarentur, singulis cruribus, mirse per- 
nicitatis ad saltum : eosdemque Sciopodas vocari, quod in 
majori sestu, humi jacentes resupini, umbra se pedum prote- 
gant.' 

It is the tradition of the country that all the'stones of the 
Wall were handed from one man to another by a set of la- 
bourers stationed in a line from the quarry to the place where 
they were required. Many will tell you, ' I have heard my mo- 
ther say, that the Wall was built in a single night, and that 
no one was observed to be engaged upon it, save an old wo- 
man with an apron full of stones.' — This, however, is a tradi- 
tion of almost universal application. 

The people say that the Wall was hollow, or, as they express 
it, had a flue running the whole length of it, through which the 
sentinels communicated intelligence by a speaking trumpet. 

Some of the people of this neighbourhood tell me that the 
Britons, tired, at length, of Roman oppression, rose in a body, 
and drove the garrison, with considerable slaughter, from all 
their stations. The Romans, when making their way to the 
sea to look for ships to carry them home, were met by a seer, 
who told them that if they returned home they would all be 
drowned ; and if they went back to their old stations they 
would all be slain. This prophecy disconcerted them greatly, 
and they were at their wits' end ; however, after long con- 
sultation, they resolved to escape both calamities by marching 
direct to Wales. This they did, and there the pure, unadul- 
terated Roman breed is to be found to this day. — Can this 
story refer to the passage of the second legion, at an early 
period, to Caerleon ? 

r Pliny's Natural History, lib. vii. c. 2, q. 



LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR. 205 

We next pass on to some tales, which, though 
not connected with the Wall, belong, as Hodgson 
remarks, to times nearer the Roman than these de- 
generate days. They chiefly relate to king Arthur. 
Sir William Betham observes that this monarch's 
name is more celebrated in Scotland than in Wales, 
which was the chief resort of the conquered Britons, 
and is disposed to think, that this favourite hero of 
romance was not a Romanized Briton, but an invading 
Pictish king. This idea would account for the frequent 
reference to his name in the region of the Wall. 

Immemorial tradition has asserted, that king Arthur, his 
queen Guenever, his court of lords and ladies, and his hounds, 
were enchanted in some cave of the crags, or in a hall below 
the castle of Sewingshields, and were to continue entranced 
there till some one should first blow a bugle horn that lay on 
a table near the entrance of the hall, and then with l the 
sword of the stone" 1 cut a garter also placed there beside it. 
But none had ever heard where the entrance to this enchant- 
ed hall was, till the farmer at Sewingshields, about fifty years 
since, was sitting upon the ruins of the castle, and his clew 
fell, and ran downwards through a rush of briars and nettles, 
as he supposed, into a deep subterranean passage. Firm in 
the faith that the entrance into king Arthur's hall was now 
discovered, he cleared the briary portal of its weeds and rub- 
bish, and entering a vaulted passage, followed, in his darkling 
way, the thread of his clew. The floor was infested with 
toads and lizards ; and the dark wings of bats, disturbed by 
his unhallowed intrusion, flitted fearfully around him. At 
length, his sinking courage was strengthened by a dim, distant 
light, which, as he advanced, grew gradually brighter, till, all 
at once, he entered a vast and vaulted hall, in the centre of 
which, a fire without fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, 
blazed with a high and lambent flame, that shewed all the 
carved walls and fretted roof, and the monarch and his queen, 



206 LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR. 

reposing around in a theatre of thrones and costly couches. 
On the floor, beyond the fire, lay the faithful and deep-toned 
pack of thirty couple of hounds ; and on a table before it, the 
spell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The shepherd re- 
verently, but firmly, grasped the sword, and as he drew it 
leisurely from its rusty scabbard, the eyes of the monarch, 
and of his courtiers began to open, and they rose till they sat 
upright. He cut the garter; and as the sword was being 
slowly sheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and they 
all gradually sunk to rest ; but not before the monarch had 
lifted up his eyes and hands, and exclaimed : 

O woe betide that evil day 
On which, this witless wight was torn, 
Who drew the sword — the garter cut, 
But never blew the bugle-horn. 

Terror brought on loss of memory, and the shepherd was un- 
able to give any correct account of his adventure, or to find 
again the entrance to the enchanted hall.* 

To the north of Sewingshields, two strata of sandstone 
crop out to the day ; the highest points of each ledge are 
called the King and QueenVcrag, from the following legend. 
King Arthur, seated on the farthest rock, was talking with 
his queen, who, meanwhile, was engaged in arranging her 
4 back hair.' Some expression of the queen's having offended 
his majesty, he seized a rock which lay near him, and, with 
an exertion of strength for which the Picts were proverbial, 
threw it at her, a distance of about a quarter of a mile ! The 
queen, with great dexterity, caught it upon her comb, and thus 
warded off the blow ; the stone fell between them, where it 
lies to this day, with the marks of the comb upon it, to attest 
the truth of the story. 1 1 probably weighs about twenty tons ! 

A few miles to the north of Sewingshields stands an upright 
stone, which bears the name of Cumming's cross. Cumming, a 
northern chieftain, having paid, one day, a visit to king Arthur 
at his castle near Sewingshields, was kindly received by the 

s Hodgson's Northumberland, II., hi., 287. 



SEWINGSHIELDS CRAGS. 207 

king, and was, as a token of lasting friendship, presented by 
him with a gold cup. The king's sons coming in, shortly- 
after dimming had left the castle, and being informed of 
what their father had done, immediately set out in pursuit of 
him. They overtook him, and slew him at this place, which 
has borne the name of Cumrning's cross ever since. 

King Arthur's chair used to be pointed out in this vicinity. 
It was a column of basalt, fifty feet high, slightly detached 
from the rest of the cliff. The top of it had something of the 
appearance of a seat. It was thrown down, several years 
ago, by a party of idle young men, who were at great pains 
to effect their foolish purpose. 

We now return to our more immediate object, 
the examination of the Wall. 

Soon after leaving Sewingshields, a narrow chasm 
in the rocks, slightly aided by art, called the Cat- 
gate, admits of an awkward descent to the plain 
below. Here, says Hutton, the Scots bored under 
the Wall, so as to admit the body of a man. 
Whether the Romans or the Scots made this pas- 
sage, it is certain that the garrison on the Wall 
would sometimes visit the country to the north, for 
the purposes of plunder and of slaughter, and would 
require the means of egress. 

The mile-castles may now all be recognised in 
due succession. 

The next point of interest is Busy-gap, a broad, 
basin-like recess in the mountain ridge, about a 
mile from Sewingshields. The Wall here, being 
more than usually exposed, is not only strengthened 
with the fosse common in the low grounds, but has 
the additional protection of a rampart, of triangular 



208 BUSY GAP. 

form, to the north of this. The wood-cut will give 
some idea of the arrangement. A common stone 




dike occupies at present the place of the Wall, the 
foundations of which, and, for the most part, a portion 
of the grout of the interior, remain. At a little 
elevation, on the western side of the valley, is a gate 
called the King's-wicket (Arthur's again, probably), 
through which a drove-road passes. The gate is 
well situated for defence, and may have been a 
Roman passage. 

Busy-gap was in the middle ages a place of much 
notoriety ; it was the pass frequented by the moss- 
troopers and reavers of the debateable country. 

The incessant war which was waged between 
England and Scotland before the union of the two 
kingdoms, rendered property exceedingly insecure, 
and nurtured a race of men who had no expectation 
of holding their own, unless they could repel force 



STATE OF THE BORDERS. 209 

by force. It was the policy of the governments of 
both countries, to maintain on the Borders a body of 
men inured to feats of arms, whom, on any emer- 
gency, they might call to their assistance. Habits 
long indulged are not easily laid aside. When the 
policy of Elizabeth, and the accession of James 
to the throne of England, allayed the national strife, 
the stern warriors of the Border degenerated into 
sheep- stealers ; and, instead of dying in the fray, or 
yielding their necks honourably to the headsman's 
stroke, burdened by the score the gallows-tree at 
Newcastle or Carlisle. The vales of North Tyne 
and the Rede, which anciently abounded with war- 
riors, became infested with thieves. It is impossible to 
imagine the desolation and misery occasioned by 
such a state of society. Landed property was of 
little value. Precious life was idly sacrificed. Ber- 
nard Gilpin, the ' apostle of the north,' was esteemed 
a brave man because he annually ventured as far as 
Rothbury to preach the gospel of peace to the law- 
less people of the vale of Coquet. Camden and 
sir Robert Cotton, though ardently desirous of ex- 
amining the Wall, durst not venture in their pro- 
gress eastward beyond Carvoran. 'From thence,' 
Camden says, ' the Wall goeth forward more aslope 
by Iverton, Forsten, and Chester-in-the-Wall, near 
to Busy-gap, a place infamous for thieving and rob- 
bing, where stood some castles (chesters they called 
them), as I have heard, but I could not with safety 
take the full survey of it, for the rank robbers there- 
abouts.' In such ill-repute were the people of these 

2 E 



210 STATE OF THE BORDERS. 

parts, even in their own county, that we find the 
Newcastle Merchants' company in 1564, enacting 
that 'no free brother shall take non apprentice to 
serve in the fellyshipe of non such as is or shall be 
borne or brought up in Tyndale, Lyddisdale, or any 
such lycke places, on pain of 20/// because, says the 
order, l the parties there brought up are known, 
either by education or nature, not to be of honest 
conversation ; they commit frequent thefts and other 
felonys, proceeding from such lewde and wicked 
progenitors.' The offence of calling a fellow-free- 
man ' a Bussey-gap rogue,' was sufficiently serious 
to attract the attention of a guild; a case of this 
kind being recorded in the books of the Bakers and 
Brewers' company of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1645. 
The traces of this disordered state of society re- 
mained until the early part of the reign of George III., 
when the sheriff of Northumberland was first enabled 
to execute process in the north-western parts of the 
county. ' Within my own recollection/ says Mr. 
Hedley, ' almost every old house in the dales of Rede 
and Tyne was what is called a Peel house, built for 
securing its inhabitants and their cattle in the moss- 
trooping times/ Very many of these yet exist. Far 
different is the state of the district now. The men of 
the mural region, and of the vales of North Tyne, 
and Rede-water, are as upright as any in England. 
With the exception of a few aged individuals, an 
uneducated person is not to be found. Although, 
in addition to the ordinary courts of law, they have 
access to courts-leet and courts-baron, (those admir- 



STATE OF THE BORDERS. 211 

able institutions by which our Saxon forefathers gave 
to the poorest villager the ready means of procuring 
redress of wrong,) nowhere has the law less occasion 
forcibly to assert its claims. Property is secure, 
and land brings its full price in the market. On 
some of the extensive farms of the Cheviot range, 
not fewer than ten thousand sheep are kept; they are 
counted but twice a year, and seldom is one amis- 
sing. , The value of land in Northumberland (ex- 
clusive of towns and mines) is seven times greater 
than it was at the commencement of the eighteenth 
century, and two hundred times what it was in the 
middle of the sixteenth. The antiquary, who will 
not fail to rejoice in the prosperity of the country 
through which he is travelling, as well as in the 
safety of his own person, may therefore go on his 
way cheerfully and in confidence. 

The second mile-castle from Sewingshields, oppo- 
site the farm-house called the Kennel, is remarkable 
as having been built upon an absolute declivity. 
Hodgson observes that it had an interior wall on 
every side of it, at the distance of about twenty feet 
from the exterior wall. 

Shortly after leaving Busy-gap, two narrow, but 
rather steep gaps are passed in quick succession, 
which do not seem to have obtained names. Through 
the first of these the Black Dike has probably run. 
This is an earth-work of unknown antiquity, which is 
supposed to have stretched, in a nearly straight line, 
from the borders of Scotland near Peel-fell, through 
Northumberland and Durham, to the south of York- 



212 THE BLACK DIKE. 

shire. The scantiness of the soil on the crags of 
the Wall, accounts for its not being discernible there, 
and the ground immediately to the north and south 
of it is boggy. In a plantation on the hill side, op- 
posite to where we now are, looking south, the dike 
exists in excellent preservation. The seuch, or slack 
of it, may be seen even from the Wall, on the western 
edge of the plantation, which is called the ' Black-dike 
planting.' From the information of those whojsnew 
it half a century ago, 1 shall set down its probable 
course in this vicinity. Coming in a south-east direc- 
tion, it passes the east end of Broomlee-lough ; hav- 
ing cleared the Wall and Vallum, it goes by the west of 
Beggar-bog, the east of Low Morwood, through the 
Muckle-moss, and so to the Black-dike plantation. 
Passing afterwards a field called the Black-hall, it is 
last seen on the north bank of the Tyne near the 
Water-house. It re-appears on the south bank at 
Morley, and passing Tedcastle and Dean-row, is 
supposed to go by Allenheads into the . county of 
Durham. In the best piece of it which I have seen, 
the ditch is ten feet across the top, and about five feet 
deep, reckoning from the top of the mound on its east 
side. Within the memory of my informants, it was 
much deeper. The sheep were often covered up in it 
in a snow-storm, as they naturally went there for shelter. 
The earth taken out of the ditch is uniformly thrown 
to the east side, where it forms an embankment. No 
stones, or such only as were derived from the cutting, 
have been used in its formation. The only conjecture 
hazarded respecting its origin is, that it formed the line 



THE BLACK DIKE. 213 

of demarcation between the kingdoms of Northumbria 
and Cumbria; and certainly the course pursued by 
the Black-dike is very nearly similar to the bound- 
ary assigned to these regions in the most authentic 
maps of Saxon England. The antiquity of the cut- 
ting may be inferred from the circumstances, that for 
some distance it forms the division between the 
adjacent parishes of Haltwhistle and Warden, and 
that it passes through bogs which probably owe their 
origin to the devastations committed in the north of 
England by William the Norman/ The Black-dike 
is laid down in the map of Northumberland which 
was prepared to accompany Horsley's Britannia, and 
in Kitchin's Map of Northumberland, under the 
name of the ' Scots'- dike/ 

South of the turnpike road, and behind a small 
house, called Beggar-bog, is a low freestone crag, 
which exhibits some quarry-like excavations, filled 
with the chippings of stone. It has probably fur- 
nished material for the Wall, the stone being of 
the same character. 

The stream which we next cross is the Knag-burn ; 
it forms the eastern boundary of Housesteads. Pas- 
sing it, we scale the ramparts of this far-famed station. 

t The country being depopulated, lands once in tillage, again 
became wastes. The forests being partially destroyed, either by 
fire or the axe, the streams which used to permeate the low- 
grounds were arrested in their course by prostrate trunks and 
branches, and gave rise to extensive morasses. In the bogs of 
the district we are now considering, immense quantities of large 
oak and birch timber, as well as of oak leaves and hazel nuts, are 
continually being found. The Dike would not, of course, origin- 
ally, be drawn through swampy ground. 



214 THE ANCIENT BORCOVICUS. 

BORCOVICUS.— 'This* says Gordon, ■ is un- 
questionably the most remarkable and magnificent 
station in the whole island ; ' and c it is hardly credible 
what a number of august remains of the Roman 
grandeur is to be seen here to this day, seeing in 
every place where one casts his eye there is some 
curious Roman antiquity to be seen : either the 
marks of streets and temples in ruins, or inscrip- 
tions, broken pillars, statues, and other pieces of 
sculpture all scattered along the ground.' Stukely, 
in the vehemence of his admiration, denominates it 
e the Tadmor of Britain.' Let not the visitor, how- 
ever, approach it with expectations too greatly ex- 
cited. There is very much to admire, but not a 
great deal to strike the eye at first sight. The altars 
and sculptured figures which lay in profusion on the 
ground when Gordon and Stukely were there, have 
been removed," but the ruins of the place remain as 
complete and vast as ever. The city is, in a great 
measure, covered with its own debris, but the ex- 
cavations which have recently been made, shew us 
that when they are continued throughout the entire 
station, the ancient Borcovicus will be the Pompeii 
of Britain. 

The station of Housesteads contains an area of 
nearly five acres. ' Half of it hangs on a slope, with 
a southern aspect : the other, or northern half, is 
flat, floored with basalt, covers the summit of a lofty 
ridge, and commands a prospect on the east, south, 

" Many of them are preserved in the M usenm of the Society 
of Antiquaries, Newcastle- upon-Tvne. 



HOUSESTEADS. 215 

and west, far away beyond the valley of the Tyne, 
over blue air-tinted grounds and lofty mountains ; 
and to the north of the Wall, over the vast waste of 
the forest of Lowes, where indeed, a proud, stu- 
pendous solitude frowns o'er the heath/ 

The Wall forms its northern boundary, and the 
Vallum, it is probable, came to the support of 
its southern rampart." It is naturally defended on 
all sides, except the west. In order duly to pro- 
tect this side, the gateway seems to have been walled 
up at an early period, and a triple line of ramparts 
drawn along it. 

Although the position of Housesteads clearly in- 
dicates that this fort was erected for the accommoda- 
tion of a mural garrison, it would seem to have been 
built independently of the Wall. The first anxiety 
of the soldiers engaged in that great work would be 
to erect a secure habitation for themselves. The 
west wall of the station, instead of coming up to 
the great Wall in a straight line, makes the curve 
which is usual in those corners of a camp that are 
independent of the Wall ; as is shewn in the wood- 
cut at the top of the next page. 

v Horsley remarks, e I cannot say that Hadrian's Vallum has 
made the south rampart of this station at Housesteads, but I think 
it has passed it not much to the south, and seems to have a small 
turn just at the brook, in order to come near, if not up to it.' This 
looks as if Horsley could not altogether throw off the idea that 
the works exhibit unity of design. Hutton notices his inconsist- 
ency , and, quoting him, (as transferred to the pages of < the judi- 
cious Warburton,') writes — ' But can a thing be brought near to 
what does not exist ! Hadrian was dead long before the appear- 
ance of this station.' 



216 Boitcovicus. 

All the gateways, except the north, have been 





ored, and present very interesting subjects of 
study to the antiquary. The western 
is in the best condition, and is specially 
worthy of attention. Its arrangements 
will readily be understood by an inspec- 
tion of the ground plan which is here in- 
troduced, together with the views of it as 
seen from the outside and inside of the 
station, on the next page. This gateway, 
as well as the others which have been 
explored, is, in every sense of the word, 
double. Two walls must be passed 
before the camp can be entered ; each 
is provided with two portals, and each 
portal has been closed with two-leaved 
gates. The southern entrance of the 
outside wall has alone, as yet, been en- 
tirely cleared of the masonry that closed 





Oatside View of the West Portal of BoRCOVlCL'S. 




Inside View of the West Portal of BOKCOVICCS. 



2 F 



WEST GATEWAY OF BORCOVICUS. 219 

it. The jambs and pillars are formed of massive 
stones of rustic masonry. The doors, if we may 
judge from the fragments of corroded iron which 
have been lately picked up, were of wood, strength- 
ened with iron plates and studs ; they moved, as is 
apparent from the pivot-holes, upon pivots of iron. 
In the centre of each portal stands a strong upright 
stone, against which the gates have shut. Some of 
the large projecting stones of the exterior wall are 
worn as if by the sharpening of knives upon them ; 
this has probably been done by the occupants of the 
suburban buildings after the closing of the gateway. 
The guard-chambers on each side are in a state of 
choice preservation, one of the walls standing four- 
teen courses high. Were a roof put on them, 
the antiquary might here stand guard, as the Tun- 
grians did of old, and, for a while, forget that the 
world is sixteen centuries older than it was when these 
chambers were reared. At least two of the cham- 
bers in this part of the camp have been warmed by 
U shaped flues running round three of their sides 
beneath the floor."' These chambers, when recently 
excavated, were found to be filled with rubbish so 
highly charged with animal matter as painfully to 
affect the sensibilities of the labourers. The teeth 
and bones of oxen, horns resembling those of the 
red-deer, but larger, and boars' tusks were very 

w This circumstance, together with the fact, that all the camps 
of the Barrier abound in stones reddened with fire, is confirmatory 
of the view, that the buildings supplied with hypocausts were not 
necessarily baths. 



220 BORCOYICI 

abundant; tlierc was the usual quantity of all the 
kinds of pottery used by the Romans. It is not 
improbable that this rubbish may have been derived 
from some dunghill outside the walls, and thrown 
here when the gateway was walled up ; it is, however, 
a remarkable fact, that the soil of the interior area 
of the stations on the Wall is, for the most part, 
thickly mingled with bones. Is it possible that the 
Romans have thrown on the floors of their apart- 
ments, and suffered to remain amongst the straw 
or rushes which may have covered them, the refuse 
of their food ? 

The view of Housesteads in the accompanying 
lithograph, is taken from beside the eastern gate- 
way, and gives a general idea of the scene of deso- 
lation which it presents.* The only habitation near 
is a shepherd's cottage to the south of the station. 
A peculiarity in the upper division of the eastern 
gateway requires attention ; the lower division, as 
seen in the lithograph, has been walled up at an early 
period. A rut, nearly nine inches deep, appears in 
the threshold, on each side of the central stone against 
which the gates closed. Grooves, similar in charac- 
ter, are seen in the gateways of the camps at Birdos- 
wald and Maryport. Were it not for the central 
stone, which presents an impediment to the passage 
of chariots, no one would doubt that these hollows 
have been occasioned by the action of their wheels. 
The following extract, explanatory of the condition 

x The site of the western gateway is marked by a figure in the 
background of the picture. 



RUTS IN THE GATEWAY. 221 

of the city of Pompeii, will probably throw light upon 
this and other things belonging to the camp. 

The Domitian way which led to it was narrow, the carriage- 
way seldom exceeding ten feet in width. The streets of the 
city itself are paved with large irregular pieces of lava, joined 
neatly together, in which the chariot wheels have worn ruts, 
still discernible ; in some places they are an inch and a half 
deep, and in narrow streets follow one track. ... In most 
places, the streets are so narrow, that they may be crossed 
at one stride ; where they are wider, a raised stepping-stone 
has been placed in the centre of the crossing. This, though 
in the middle of the carriage-way, did not much inconvenience 
those who drove about in the biga, or two-horsed chariot, be- 
cause the width of these streets being only sufficient to admit 
the carriage, the wheels passed freely in the spaces left between 
the curb on either side, and the stone in the centred 

The stone in the centre of the doorway would not 
be a greater impediment than the stepping stones 
in the streets of Pompeii. 

The remains of the gateways of Borcovicus shew 
that in plan and construction they must have resembled 
the Roman Gateway which, under the name of the 
' Porta nera,' is preserved entire at Treves, Augusta 
trevirorum, once the seat of government of the 
Western Empire. 

In examining this and other Roman camps, the 
spectator will, perhaps, be struck with the narrow- 
ness of the streets, and the very small capacity of the 
the dwellings. It is well to recollect that in their 
encampments the Romans studiously avoided occu- 
pying a larger space than was absolutely necessary. 

y Pompeii. — Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 



222 BORCOVICUS. 

Gibbon observes that a modern army would present 
to the enemy a front three times as extended as a 
Roman one of the same force. In the field, ten men 
were apportioned to a tent, ten feet square f a simi- 
lar proportion would withont doubt be followed in 
the stationary camp. 

It is not easy to ascertain the precise character of 
the dwellings of the soldiers ; the more perfect of the 
ruins in this and other forts, induce the belief that 
they were dark, bare, and cheerless. The roofs were 
probably formed of free-stone slate. Several thin 
slabs of this kind, with nail-holes in them, as well as 
some of the nails themselves, have been found in 
this and other stations/ On Plate XIII, figs. 1, 7, 
are drawn some door or window heads, found here ; 
these most likely belonged to buildings of a superior 
class. The entrance into a chamber at Habitancum, 
recently excavated, was found to be only fourteen 
inches wide ; it was rudely i stepped over' at the top. 
Fragments of a sort of window glass are frequently 
found in some of the stations ; this would probably 
be a rare luxury , b 

At Housesteads, two or three of the ruined cham- 

a Two of this number, however, would always be on duty, 
to the very great comfort of the eight who remained. 

a The initial N, page 43, is formed of three nails from House- 
steads, drawn to three-fourths of the actual size. 

b The most satisfactory specimen that I have seen is at Car- 
voran ; it has apparently been rolled, when in a soft state, on a 
stone table, and presents, from its slightly roughened surface, the 
degree of opacity which plate- glass has before it is polished. 



THE CHAMBERS OF THE STATION. 223 

bers will, above the rest, attract the attention of the 
visitor. Near the centre of the northern division is 
one which is seventy feet long and eight broad ; it 
must have been a place of public concourse. In the 
front of it is a kiln which has probably been used 
for drying corn ; near the southern gateway is 
another which was nearly destroyed in the endea- 
vour made to extricate a cow which had fallen into 
it, and, in struggling to relieve herself, had thrust 
her head and neck into the flue. The Romans seem 
to have kiln-dried their corn at the close of the har- 
vest ; it would not have been safe to stack it in the 
open fields. They would the more readily do this, 
as it is still by no means unusual, in the central and 
southern parts of Europe, to thrash the corn at the 
close of harvest on the field where it grew. 

Three hypocausts have been found here, two 
within the station, and another to the east of it, on 
the Knag-burn ; the flues of the latter were full of 
soot ; very slight traces of any of them now remain. 

In this and most other stations, writes Hodgson, 
' there are found considerable quantities of limestone, 
having partly the character of stalagmite, and partly 
that of such cellular stone as forms about the mouths 
of petrifying wells. Some of it is in amorphous 
lumps ; but the greatest part of it has been either 
sawn into rectangular pieces, or formed in a fluid 
state in moulds.' They are probably artificial ; at 
Habitancum, where this calcareous substance is 
abundant, it seems to have acquired its porosity by 
beins: mixed with straw. The use to which it has 



224 BORCOVICUS. 

been applied is by no means obvious. Hodgson 
thought that it had been inserted in the side walls of 
the hypocausts, to allow heat to arise from below 
without smoke. This is doubtful. At Habitancum, 
the blocks, I am told, have been used as ordinary 
stones. In the construction of the Pharos at Dover, 
(where building stone is scarce) the calcareous com- 
position has been largely used. Why it should have 
been employed at Habitancum, and other places, 
where free-stone is abundant, does not appear. 

The suburbs of Borcovicus have been very ex- 
tensive, the ruins of them distinctly appearing on 
the east, south, and west sides of the station. A 
little to the south of it, and stretching westward, the 
ground has been thrown up in long terraced lines, 
a mode of cultivation much practised in Italy and 
in the east. Similar terraces, more feebly developed, 
appear at Bradley ; I have seen them very distinctly 
marked on the banks of the Rede- water, Old Car- 
lisle and other places. 

A well, cased with Roman masonry, is in front of 
the shepherd's house, south of the station ; a spring, 
yielding excellent water, is at the bottom of the same 
field ; the Knag-burn washes the station on its east- 
ern side, and there is i a fine well under the high 
basaltic cliff' on which the northern wall of the 
station stands, ' which is still well walled round,' 
and has occasionally been used as a bath. None has 
been discovered within the station itself. 

In the valley below is a small sandstone ridge, 
called Chapel-hill, from the idea that a temple stood 






I, 













, 


, • 


) 




V 


- 




V 




\ ■! 









i ■ ' I 



fi'K! 

> . Ml I u 




ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS. 225 

upon it. Two fine altars have been found here. 6 
The ruins that contained the Mithraic antiquities, to 
which reference will be made afterwards, stood a 
little to the west of this hill. All traces of the small, 
dark temple, where the horrid mysteries of the god 
were performed, are now nearly obliterated. 

The fragments of columns which are engraved in 
Plate XI, enable us to imagine the original grand- 
eur of the place/ With some of the certainty with 
which a comparative anatomist decides upon the 
character and habits of an animal, from an inspection 
of a fragment of its osseous system, an architect 
determines the size and style of a building from an 
examination of some of its parts. Thus, the circular 
column, of which one of the stones (Plate XI.) that 
now lies in the valley below the station, has formed 
a part, was probably not less than twenty feet high ; 
how imposing must the entire temple have been ! 

Plates XII and XIII exhibit several of the carved 
figures which formerly lay in confusion among the 
ruins of the station. They are interesting, as ex- 
hibiting the state of the arts in Britain at that time, 
the mode of dress adopted by the Romans, and the 
high degree of attention which they paid to the 
decoration of their stations. Roman art in Britain 
has surely been rated too low. 

c One of them is engraved, on p. 63, the inscription of the other 
is illegible ; both are in the Museum at Newcastle. 

d See also the vignette, page 42. Most of these are still on 
the ground. They are drawn to the usual scale. 

2 G 



226 



BORCOVICUS. 



The figure introduced on this page was found here. 

It represents one 
of old Rome's most 
favourite deities, — 
Victory, careering, 
with outstretched 
wings, over the 
globe. How strong 
must the passion for 
conquest have been 
in the breast of a 
people, who, though 
nurtured in a south- 
ern climate, braved 
for more than three 
centuries, the fogs, 
and storms, and de- 
solation of this wild 
region ! Wherever 
the winged goddess 
led, they followed, 
and, most pertinaciously too, maintained their 
ground. But, there is a tide in the affairs of men. 
A Roman poet, in the fulness of his heart, sang — 

Urbs oritur (quis tunc hoc ulli credere posset ?) 

Victorem terris impositura pedem. 
Cuncta regas : et sis magno sub Caesare semper 

Ssepe etiam plures nominis hujus habe. 
Et quoties steteris domito sublimis in orbe, 

Omnia sint humeris inferiora tuis. 




How different the strains which, in a distant age, 



THE NAME ASCERTAINED. 



227 



and in another clime, were to flow from the lyre of 
a brother bard, and how appropriate to the present 
condition of the deserted Borcovicus ! — ■ 

Where is Rome \ 

She lives but in the tale of other times ; 

Her proud pavilions are the hermit's home, 

And her long colonnades, her public walks 

Now faintly echo to the pilgrim's feet, 

Who comes to muse in solitude, and trace, 

Through the rank moss revealed, her honoured dust. 

That Housesteads is the Borcovicus of the em- 
pire, appears plain 
from the numerous in- 
scriptions that allude 
to the first cohort of 
the Tungrians, which, 
according to the No- 
titia, was quartered L 
there. One of these f 
inscriptions is shewn ||| 
on page 63 ; another, 
a sepulchral stone, is 
here presented. The 
figure on the top of 
the slab I take to be 
a rabbit, and suspect 
that it had some re- 
ference to the wor- 
ship of the obscene 
god, Priapus. The 
inscription is usually 
read in the following manner, though, perhaps, ordi- 




228 BORCOVICUS. 

nario might with equal propriety be read ordinato : — 

d[iisi MrANiBvsi Sacred to the gods of the shades below. 

anicio To Anicius 

ingenvo Ingenuus, 

medico physician 

ordi[nario] coh[ortis] in ordinary, of cohort 

primje tvngr[orvm1 the first of the Tungrians. 

vix[it] anCnis] xxv He lived twenty-five years. 

From an inscription found at Castlecary, it ap- 
pears that this cohort of Tungrians built one thou- 
sand paces of the Antonine Wall in Scotland. They 
were from about Tongres, on the banks of the Masse, 
in Belgic Gaul. Their rank, as a milliary cohort, 
conferred on them the dangerous honour of advanc- 
ing in the van of the army to battle, and their acknow- 
ledged valour probably procured for them the ap- 
pointment to this exposed and dangerous post. 

The etymology of Borcovicus is easy. A high 
hill to the south of the station is called Borcum or 
Barcomb, a neighbouring stream is designated Bar- 
don-burn, and a village near its confluence with the 
Tyne, Bardon-mill. Bar, in Celtic, means a height, 
and probably forms the root of all these names ; the 
termination, vicus, is a Latin word, signifying a village. 

The stone used in the inside of the walls of the 
station, and for other ordinary purposes, has been 
quarried out of the cliffs in the sandstone ridge, 
along which the present military road passes. € The 
altars, columns, and quoins, and much of the ashlar 
work, have been taken from a stratum of freestone 
on the north side of the Wall, and similar to that in 



THE VALLUM COMMANDED BY THE CRAGS. 229 

which the recesses, called the King and Queen's 
Caves, on the south side of Broomlee-lough, are 
formed.'* 

Again taking the Wall as our guide, we will pur- 
sue our course westward. For the greater part of 
the way along the high ground, the Wall is in a suffi- 
ciently good state of preservation to make it a varied 
and interesting study ; it not unfrequently exhibits 
five, six, and even seven courses of facing-stones. The 
Northumbrian lakes also lend a charm to the scene. 
Though appearing in native simplicity and rude 
grandeur, they will not on that account be less ap- 
preciated by men of taste. The Vallum is generally 
very boldly developed, and runs for several miles in 
the valley below, completely commanded by the hill 
on which the Wall stands, as is shewn in the section, 
Plate IV. This fact is surely fatal to the theory of 
its having been erected to withstand the brunt of a 
northern foe. It would have been impolitic to 
allow the enemy to occupy these heights even as a 
post of observation. It is true, that the Vallum is occa- 
sionally commanded by the rising ground on the 
south : opposite Sewingshields it is so, and opposite 
Hot-bank, a little to the west of where we now are, 
it is overlooked on both sides. This difficulty is not 
a very formidable one. The engineer of the Barrier 
has drawn the Vallum chiefly in straight lines from 
one point to another, and has not thought it ne- 
cessary to guard with excessive jealousy every little 

Archaeologia iEliana, i. 268. 



230 RAPISHAW-GAP. 

rising ground to the south ; he never, however, de- 
parts from his course to go round the north of a 
hill, as he does to go round the south of that one near 
Halton-chesters. The cases, moreover, in which 
the Vallum is exposed to observation from the south, 
are very few. Horsley's own testimony upon this 
point is decided. He writes — 

It must be owned, that the southern prospect of Hadrian's 
work, and the defence on that side, is generally better than 
on the north; whereas the northern prospect and defence 
have been principally, or only taken care of in the Wall of 
Severus./ 

After passing a mile-castle we come to a depres- 
sion in the ridge of basalt, that places us opposite 
the west end of Broomlee-lough ; the crag on the 
west side of this slack is called Cuddy's-crag. A 
little farther on, we reach a more extensive pass, 
called Rapishaw-gap ; a road passes through it 
under the same circumstances as that through Busy- 
gap, a little above the bottom of the valley. The 
traveller may here with advantage go to the north of 
the Wall, in order to examine the geological 
character of the cliffs he has passed ; they are seen 
\ to rise in rude and pillared majesty.' 

Regaining the high grounds, the Wall for a short 
space is found to possess less than its usual interest ; 
the ground on the east side of the Bradley estate 
was formerly common, and the object of our study 
was every man's prey. Other objects of inquiry, 

f Britannia Romana, 125. 



ANCIENT QUARRY. 231 

however, abundantly relieve the attention. Langley 
castle, on the south bank of the Tyne, is in sight, 
and during our western journey will long continue 
to be so. It is a square building strengthened by 
rectangular towers at the corners. Formerly a seat of 
the Percys, it became afterwards the property of the 
Radcliffes. It passed, on the rebellion of 1715, along 
with the other possessions of the earl of Derwentwa- 
ter,into the hands of the commissioners of Greenwich 
Hospital, who at present retain it. Destroyed by fire 
at an early period, it has never been repaired ; its 
masonry is notwithstanding in excellent preserva- 
tion. On a clear day the singularly strong tongue 
of land on which are the ruins of Staward-le-peel, 
may also be discerned to the south. But, more to 
our present purpose, the high, brown hill of Borcum, 
from which the Romans obtained much of the stone 
used in the construction of this part of the Wall, is in 
the foreground. An interesting discovery was made 
here in 1837, to which subsequent reference will be 
made. On opening an ancient quarry on the top of it, 
near the ' longstone,' a workman found a small copper 
vessel, containing a large number of Roman coins ; 
four of these were of the time of Hadrian, and all 
the rest, of previous reigns. Those of Trajan and 
Hadrian were as fresh as if new from the die. The 
conclusion is natural, that the quarry had been last 
wrought in the time of Hadrian, the Wall itself being 
possibly of the same date. An extensive earthen camp 
is on the summit of the hill, probably raised by the 
soldiers who were engaged in quarrying the rock. 



232 HADRIAN SLAB. 

Greenlee-lough is to the north ; on its western 
margin is a modern structure, Bonny-rig, the pro- 
perty of sir Edward Blackett. 

Proceeding westward, the Wall again rises into 
notice. ' Much of it remains of very various thick- 
nesses, the whole of the perpendicular outsets and 
insets being on the south side.' 

On the tail of the crag on which we now are, the 
farm-house of Bradley stands. Built up in the 
doorway of its old kitchen, was a stone, now at 
Matfen, bearing the fragment of an inscription. 
Another fractured slab, formerly in the possession 
of the i judicious' Warburton, and now at Durham, 
when joined to it, gives an inscription precisely simi- 
lar to one immediately to be noticed, with the ex- 
ception of a letter or two in the line of the fracture. 
The fragments, doubtless, as Hodgson conjectures, 
formed one stone, deposited in the foundation of some 
castellum in this neighbourhood, as a memorial of its 
erection bv Hadrian. The wood-cut annexed has 




been prepared from drawings carefully made of the 
two portions in their separate localities. 



BRADLEY HALL. 233 

Once, at least, since the days of Hadrian, this 
central region of the Wall has been honoured with 
the presence of royalty. Hodgson says, — 

On the authority of documents in Bymer, Prynne, and the 
Calender of Patent Eolls, I find Edward the First testing re- 
cords in the presence of several great officers of state, at Lan- 
chester, on Aug. 10 ; at Corbridge, Aug. 14; at Nevvburgh, 
Aug. 28, 30, 31, and Sep. 4 ; at Bradley ' in Marchia Scotise,' 
Sep. 6 and 7 ; at Haltwhistle on the 11th, and at Thirlwall 
on the 20th of the same month ; and at Lanercost on Oct. 4, 
A. D. 1306, at which last house he continued all winter. The 
Bradley here mentioned is probably Bradley -hall, on the right 
bank of Craglough-burn, and a little south both of Vallum 
and Wall, not the farm-house of Bradley, which is between 
the two barriers. — Northd. II. in. 288. 

The exigencies of war have again and again drawn 
to this secluded spot the mightiest potentates of 
earth; as yet this imperial ground has not been 
trodden by the feet of Majesty, attracted by the sweet 
allurements of peace. 

On the margin of the military road, opposite to us, 
is the only Inn in the district, which is known by no 
other name than that of Twice Brewed. Before the 
construction of the Railway it was much resorted to 
by the carriers who conducted the traffic between 
the eastern and western portions of the island. As 
many as fifty horses and about twenty men would 
be put up here for the night. Now, it is nearly for- 
saken. Hutton took up his abode here on a carrier's 
night. The difficulty he had in procuring an exclusive 
bed was compensated by the amusement of observ- 
ing the carriers at their meal — he soon perceived 

2h 



234 MILKING-GAP. 

that they had ' no barricade in the throat ; and be- 
came convinced that eating was the chief end of man !' 
The next break in the basaltic ridge, is the 
Milking-gap. As we approach it, Crag-lough is 
seen laving the base of the perpendicular cliff 
along which the Wall runs. In order to take the 
high ground, westward of the gap, the Wall here 
tarns at a considerable angle. In this valley, the 
north fosse again comes to the help of the struc- 
ture. In front of the farm-house, called Hot-bank, 
are distinct traces of a mile-castle. In taking up its 
foundations, the slab, of which the annexed drawing 
is a faithful copy, was found, which would seem to 
be a tablet precisely similar to that which is formed 
by the junction of the two fragments referred to above. 




4 STORE* DEL SB.uiTiNo.se 

IMF[ERAT0RIS] CAES[ARIS] TRAIAN[I]. 
HADRIANI AVGtVSTlJ 
LEG[IOj SECVNDA AVG[VSTA] 
AVLO PLATORIO NEP0TE LEG[ATO] PR[0]PRLETORE.l 

Of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus 
Hadrianus Augustus, 
The second legion, styled the August, 
Aulus Platorius Nepos, being legate and propraetor. 



MILKING-GAP INSCRIPTION. 235 

Of all the inscriptions discovered in Britain, Hodg- 
son pronounces this to be of the greatest historical 
importance, inasmuch as it leads to the true read- 
ing of several fragments of similar inscriptions throw- 
ing light upon the authorship of the Wall. One of 
these was known to Horsley, and seems to have puz- 
zled that great antiquary. It and other fragments which 
have since been found in different mile-castles, tend to 
produce the conviction, that the mile-castles, (which 
are on the line of the Wall, ascribed to Severus,) 
were built by Hadrian. The simplicity of the in- 
scription will strike the classical reader, who will 
not fail also to observe the peculiarity of the name 
of the emperor being in the genitive case. 

Although the station of ViNDOLANAlies consider- 
ably to the south of the lines of the Barrier, it is 
ranked by the Notitia among the stations per lineam 
valli, and as such, must be examined by us in our 
mural peregrination. Leaving Milking-gap with 
this view, and crossing the low grounds to the 
south of the Wall, the Vallum is observed, contrary 
to its usual tendency, making two rapid curves, 
something in the form of the letter S, to avoid, ap- 
parently, the swellings of the contiguous marsh. At 
High-shields, a cottage on the little ridge south of 
the turnpike -road, the station comes into view. It 
stands upon a partially detached eminence, surround- 
ed, though not so closely as to be commanded, by 
hills of superior elevation. On all sides, except the 
western, it is naturally defended, whilst the summits 
of the surrounding heights afford it a degree of shel- 



236 VINDOLANA. 

ter which would be peculiarly grateful to the natives 
of southern Europe. The Chineley-burn flows past it, 
and the situation is altogether one of peculiar beauty. 
In modern times, the place has been variously desig- 
nated Little Chesters, the Bowers, and Chesterholm. 

VINDOLANA.— As this station is detached 
from the Wall, and lies upon the line of the an- 
cient road which ran from Cilurnum to Magna, 
it is not improbable that it was one of Agricolas 
forts. The road which connected it with the Wall 
may yet be distinctly traced between High Shields 
and the farm-house of Chesterholm. 

The walls, ditches, and gateways of the station 
are all discernible. The northern gateway would 
be the one chiefly used by the garrison, as it opens 
directly upon the Great Military Way. An ex- 
amination of the western gateway, some years ago, 
led to the belief that it had been walled up at an 
early period ; this is the most exposed side of the 
camp. A portion of the wall of the station near the 
north-east corner, when cleared by its late owner, 
Mr. Hedley, stood twelve courses high. In this 
case, as in many others, the researches of the anti- 
quary have only facilitated the operations of the 
destroyer ; much of it has since been removed. 
The size of the stones, which is considerable in the 
foundation course, gradually diminishes upwards. 

At least two buildings provided with hypocausts, 
have been discovered here. One of these stood 
about fifty yards beyond the western rampart, and 



CHESTERHOLM. 



237 



when discovered, contained a square apartment, 
vaulted above. Some of the vaulting-stones are 
still preserved at Chesterholm ; they are grooved 
near the lower extremity, apparently to allow of the 
joints being strengthened by the insertion between 
them of keys of slate or wood. The remains of 
this building were more complete when Hodgson 
wrote the following paragraph than at present : — 

The pillars of the hypocaust are still very black with fire 
and soot ; and people say that the Bowers, from the Roman 
age till within the last century, was the elysium of a colony of 
fairies ; and this ruined bath, the kitchen to one of their pal- 
aces, of which the soot among the stones was undeniable 
evidence ; and confident belief affirmed, that long passages 
led from this laboratory of savoury messes to subterranean 
halls that ever echoed to the festivities and music of the 
Queen of the Bowers, and her aerial court. 

The other hypocaust was partially explored by 
Warburton in 1717, but 



more fully by the rev. 
Ant. Hedleyinl831. It 
stood within the area 
of the camp not far from 
the eastern gateway. In 
its ruins, Warburton 
found the fine altar to 
Fortune, here engraved. 
It is now preserved in the 
Library of the Dean and 
Chapter at Durham, the 
'judicious ' antiquary not 
having been able to ob- 




238 



VINDOLANA. 




tain his price for it of my lord Oxford/ Here 
also Mr. Hedley discovered the three noble altars 
which are still preserved at Chesterholm. The 
pillars which supported the 
floor of the hypocausts were 
of different shapes and diame- 
ters ; some of them were por- 
tions of square columns, as in 
the annexed example, some 
circular, like the balusters of 
stairs, as may be seen by the 
specimens of them in the gar- 
den at Chesterholm. The Ro- 
mans themselves, Hodgson 
remarks, seem to have treated the fallen works of their 
predecessors here with very little ceremony, when 
they cut down the handsome columns of halls and 
temples into pillars for sooty hypocausts. 

About a furlong west of the camp is a copious 
spring, from which the water was taken by a chan- 
nel formed of large stones into the station. The 
water still, in some measure, follows its ancient 
track, as the appearance of the herbage shews, and 
pours itself, by a covered passage, into the Chineley- 
burn on the opposite side. 

In the vicinity of the camp is an object of peculiar 
interest. On the line of the ancient Roman road 
which skirts its northern rampart, stands a mile- 
stone at the spot where the soldiers of Agricola or 



9 Hutchinson's Northumberland, i. 60. 












m 




i 



ROMAN MILE-STONE. 239 

Hadrian placed it. The opposite lithograph shews 
it in the foreground ; the camp is in the distance. 
It is upwards of six feet high, and is nearly two feet 
in diameter. There are traces of an inscription on 
its western face, but scarcely a letter can now be de- 
ciphered. Another mile-stone formerly stood to 
the west of this, but it was removed and split up by 
its tasteless owner, into two gate-posts. Horsley 
says that it bore the inscription — 

BONO REIPVBL1CE NATO. 

To one born for the good of the republic — 

an inscription which, supposing it to be perfect, 
though this is a little doubtful, is happily contrived to 
be complimentary to each successive emperor. The 
Romans, with wise policy, paid great attention to their 
roads ; the stones which they erected at every mile 
were generally inscribed with the name of the consul 
or emperor under whose auspices they were made. 
Horsley mentions another mile-stone, which was to 
the east of the present one. 

Close by the mile-stone is a tumulus of consider- 
able size. 

In the house and grounds of the late Mr. Hedley, 
are preserved some very valuable antiquarian re- 
mains. A very fine altar to Jupiter is reserved for 
subsequent description. Another, whose focus is 
reddened by the action of fire, is here introduced 
on account of the evidence which it affords, in cor- 
roboration of the conjecture of Horsley, that Little 
Chesters was the Vindolana of the Romans, where, 



240 



VINDOLANA. 



according to the Notitia, the fourth cohort of the 
Gauls was stationed. 




GENIO 

PRJETORIfl] 

SACRVM PI 

TVANIVS SE 

CVNDVS PR^E 

FECTVS COHlORTIS] IV 

GALL0R[VM] 



To the genius 

of the Prsetorium 

sacred ; Pi- 

tuanius Se- 

cundus prse- 

fect of the fourth cohort 

of the Gauls, erects this. 



Several other inscriptions by the fourth cohort of 
the Gauls have been found here since the time of 
Horsley. 

The altar to Fortune, given in a previous page, 
shews us that at least a detachment of the sixth 



THE TWENTIETH LEGION. 



241 




legion had, at some period, its abode here. A stone, 
preserved at the place, and 
of which an engraving is here 
given, bears testimony to the 
presence of the twentieth le- 
gion also, which was surnamed 
V[Alens] v[ictrix], ' the valiant and victorious', and 
of which the symbol was a boar. This legion was first 
sent over to Britain by Claudius, and remained in 
it until the island was abandoned by the Romans. 
Horsley conceives that this legion was concerned in 
the erection of the Vallum, though, he adds, we have 
no inscriptions to prove it. He suspects that it was no- 
way concerned in building the Wall, because, among 
all the centurial inscriptions which had come under 
his notice, not one mentioned this legion, or any 
cohort belonging to it. The discovery, since the 
publication of the Britannia Romana, of this and 
other memorials to be noticed as we proceed, ren- 
ders it probable that the twentieth legion was engaged 
upon both the Wall and the Val- 
lum ; and as, according to Hors- 
ley, 
was at Chester in the 



year 154,' 
where it long continued, the pro- 
bability is strengthened, that the 
Wall, as well as the Vallum, was built before that 
period. A fragment of an inscription, represented 
above, bears direct reference to Hadrian. The 
Milking-gap slab, to which it has a very close re- 
semblance, enables us to supply the parts that are 

2i 



' it is evident that this legion 




242 VINDOLANA. 

wanting. The only difference seems to be, that the 
emperor's name is in the dative case instead of the 
genitive as in the other example. 

IMP CAES TRAIAiV 

HAD RIANO AVG P P 
LEG II AVG 
A PLATO RIO NEPOTE LEG PR PR. 

The cottage which Mr. Hedley erected for his 
own residence is, with the exception of the quoins, 
entirely formed of stones procured from the station. 
In addition to the altars 
which stand in front of i 
the house, several objects 
of considerable interest 
are built up in the covered 
passage which leads from the 
kitchen to the burn; among 
them is a range of Roman cop- 
ing-stones, of the form shewn in 
the cut. The 'broaching' of 
the stones has been alluded to previously. 

Near the stables attached to the house, is a Roman 
altar converted into a swine-trough ; the figure on 
its side seems to have been intended for an eagle, 
the emblem of the imperial Jove. A foretaste this 
of the day when every idol shall be cast to the moles 
and to the bats. May it speedily arrive ! 

The probable meaning of the word Vindolana, 
is ' the hill of arms ;' vin, with slight variations of 
pronunciation, signifying, in all the Celtic dialects, a 
height ; and lann, in the Gaelic, weapons. The name 
well accords with those common in Ossian's poems. 




PEEL-CRAG. 243 

Rejoining the Wall at Milking-gap, and continu- 
ing our course westward, we soon arrive at a 
conspicuous gap, on the Steel-rig grounds. The 
Wall on the eastern declivity of this pass may 
be studied to great advantage. The courses are 
laid parallel to the horizon; the mortar of each 
course of the interior seems to have been smoothed 
over before the superincumbent mass was added. In 
order to give the in-door antiquary an idea of its con- 
dition, a drawing of it is here introduced. 

Mounting another hill, and again descending into 
the valley, we find another gap, in which the remains 
of a mile-castle will be noticed, from which it has 
received the name of the Castle-nick. A little far- 
ther removed is Peel-crag, one of the most pre- 
cipitous faces which the Wall has had to tra- 
verse. The military way ingeniously avoids the 
sudden descent by winding round the southern 
projections of the rock. After passing a cottage, 
called the Peel, a modern road is encountered 
which leads to Keilder, and so into Scotland; in 
its progress northwards, however, it soon degener- 
ates into a mere track. As this pass is more than 
usually open, the fosse again appears surmounted by 
a mound on its northern margin ; the earth- works 
are strongly marked, but the Wall is gone. 

The lithographic view represents the northern 
aspect of the crags, as they appear here. 

On the western side of this, sheltered by a few 
trees, is the farm-house of Steel-rig. Attaining the 
next elevation — Winshields-crag — we are on ground 



244 BLOODY-GAP. 

reputed to be the highest between the two seas ; a turf 
cairn has been erected on it for the purposes of the ord- 
nance survey. From this lofty summit, the vessels na- 
vigating the Solway may easily be descried. 

Proceeding in the same direction, we reach another 
gap of wide dimensions, but very steep on both declivi- 
ties. Here the Wall has been provided with a ditch, 
strengthened, as usual in dangerous situations, with 
a rampart on its outer margin. If the local vocabu- 
lary does not furnish this pass with a name (and I 
have not been able to find that it does), Bloody- gap, 
from the following circumstance, well befits it. 
Nearly direct north from it, is a rising ridge of 
ground, called Scotch-coulthard. When the moss- 
troopers, who abounded in these parts, succeeded in 
safely reaching it, their pursuers commonly considered 
farther chase useless. Between the Wall and this 
point of safety, therefore, the race and the conflict 
were necessarily of the most desperate character ; 
that many deadly conflicts have taken place, is 
evidenced by the numerous skeletons which are 
turned up in draining the ground. 

A lonely cottage, upon an exposed part of the 
ridge, is called Shield-on -the- Wall. 

Near the modern military way, two large stones, 
called ' the mare and foal,' are standing. In Arm- 
strong's map of Northumberland, three are marked ; 
they are probably remains of a Druidical circle. 

Shortly afterwards we come to a gap of very 
bold proportions. Popular faith asserts it to have 
been the abode of evil spirits, and it is known by 
the ominous name of Bogle-hole. The sides of the 



ANCIENT TRADITIONS. 245 

gap are steep ; on the western declivity the courses 
of the Wall are for the most part conformable to 
the ground, but they are stayed up by occasional 
steps parallel to the horizon. In the valley, to the 
south, the Vallum is seen bending up towards the 
Wall, apparently to assist in defending the pass ; it 
would not have done so, had it been an independent 
fortification. The vicinity of Bogle-hole seems a 
fitting place for introducing the following passage 
from Procopius, a writer of the fifth century. We 
can readily conceive that at a period when the in- 
roads of the Caledonians were still fresh in the 
memory of the inhabitants, the country north of the 
Wall would be regarded with superstitious dread. 
Doubtless,jnany who passed the boundary, found, to 
their cost, that in this region lay the pathway to 
the world of spirits : — 

Moreover, in this isle of Brittia, men of ancient time built 
a long wall, cutting off a great portion of it : for the soil, and 
the man, and all other things, are not alike on both sides ; 
for on the eastern (southern) side of the Wall, there is a 
wholesomeness of air in conformity with the seasons, mode- 
rately warm in summer, and cool in winter. Many men in- 
habit here, living much as other men. The trees, with their 
appropriate fruits, flourish in season, and their corn lands are 
as productive as others ; and the district appears sufficiently 
fertilized by streams. But on the western (northern) side 
all is different, insomuch indeed, that it would be impossible 
for a man to live there, even half an hour. Vipers and ser- 
pents innumerable, with all other kinds of wild beasts, infest 
that place; and, what is most strange, the natives affirm, 
that if any one, passing the Wall, should proceed to the other 
side, he would die immediately, unable to endure the unwhole- 
someness of the atmosphere. Death also, attacking such 
beasts as go thither, forthwith destroys them. . . . They 



246 CAW-GAP. 

say that the souls of men departed are always conducted 
to this place ; but in what manner I will explain immediately, 
having frequently heard it from men of that region relating 
it most seriously, although I would rather ascribe their assever- 
ations to a certain dreamy faculty which possesses them. — 
Giles's Ancient Britons, I. 40k 

The next defile is Caw-gap ; some ruined cottages, 
formed of Wall-stones, stand in it. The extreme 
jealousy with which the Romans defended an ex- 
posed situation is well shewn here. The fosse, 
which guards the pass through the low ground, is 
discontinued on the western side as soon as the 
Wall attains a sufficient elevation, but upon the 
the ground drooping, though only for the space of 
a few yards, it re-appears for that short distance. 

A road runs through this pass to the north, which 
soon becomes a mere track. It passes a solitary 
house, called Burn Deviot, nearly due north from 
the gap, which was long the resort of smugglers and 
sheep-stealers. The memory of its last tenants, 
Nell Nichol and her two daughters, who were a pest 
to the country, is still fresh in the district. Though 
many years have elapsed since any one occupied the 
dwelling, lights are said often to be seen at the win- 
dows at night, visible tokens of the presence of the 
spirits of the murdered children of Nell's daughters. 

The crags along which we soon find ourselves to 
be proceeding, possess a perpendicular elevation of 
nearly five hundred feet above the plains below. 
Passing another small gap, called the Thorny Doors, 
we come to a tract of Wall in an excellent state 



CAWFIELDS CRAGS. 



247 



of preservation. The lower courses have lately- 
been freed from the rubbish which for centuries 
has covered them, and the fallen stones replaced 
in their proper order. The whole face of the 
Wall has a remarkably fresh appearance, and 
nowhere can the tooling of the stones be examined 
with more advantage. Amongst the fallen stones, 
one was lately found which furnishes us with ad- 
ditional evidence, that the twentieth legion was en- 
gaged in the erection of this part of the Wall. It 
is preserved amongst the an- 
tiquities at Chesters, and is 
represented in the adjoin- 
ing cut. This sculpture 
cannot have been derived 
from the Vallum, in the 
construction of which, in the time of Hadrian, the 
twentieth legion is acknowledged to have been 
employed ; for the Vallum is here distant more than 
three hundred yards from the Wall. The reader 
will of course perceive the bearing which this fact 
has upon the question of the contemporaneous origin 
of the two structures, and the construction of the 
Wall, as well as the Vallum, by Hadrian. 

While the antiquary is eagerly scrutinizing indenta- 
tions in stones which were chiselled sixteen centu- 
ries ago, his eye will occasionally rest upon the me- 
morials of an antiquity so indefinite as to throw 
into the shade even his primeval records. Lepido- 
dendra,and other fossils of the mill-stone-grit and coal 
series, are of occasional occurrence. Who shall tell 




248 PILGRIMS'-GAP, 

when these giant plants flourished, how they were 
enveloped in their sandy bed, and how hardened into 
the flinty stone made use of by the Roman soldiers ? 
Imagination reels at the questions suggested. 

We are now arrived at the most perfect mile- 
castle remaining on the line, generally named, from 
the farm-house to the north of it, the Cawfields 
Castle. The gap which it guarded was denominated 
by the peripatetic party of 1849, in commemoration 
of their visit, the Pilgrims' -gap, a name which is 
beginning to be recognised by the inhabitants of the 
neighbourhood. 

Until recently, the castellum was nearly covered 
with its own ruins. Since the annexed drawing was 
taken, the rubbish has been entirely removed from 
the inside, as well as the out. 

The building is a parallelogram, but the corners 
at its lower side are rounded off. It measures, in- 
side, sixty-three feet from east to west, and forty- nine 
feet from north to south. The great Wall forms its 
northern side. The stones used in the construction 
of this building are of the same size and character 
as those employed in the Wall itself; the mortar has 
disappeared from between the courses of the facing- 
stones, but portions of lime are seen in the grout of 
the interior. In the western wall, nine courses of 
stones are standing. The side walls of the castle 
have not been tied to the great Wall, but have been 
brought close up to it, and the junction cemented 
with mortar. 

It is provided with a gateway of large dimen- 



THE CAWFIELDS CASTELLUM. 249 

sions, both on its northern and southern side. In 
Horsley's day, it was a matter of doubt whether 
there was any opening through the Wall, excepting 
at the points where the Watling-street and the 
Maiden-way crossed it ; the disinterment of this 
mile-castle sets the question at rest, and justifies us 
in believing that the passages at Busy-gap, Rapishaw- 
gap, and other places, are of Roman formation. 

The gateways are formed of large slabs of rustic 
masonry, and to give them full development, the 
walls are thicker here than in other parts. The 
width of the wall at the lower gateway is nine feet 
three inches ; at the upper, which was, of course, 
the more exposed, ten feet six inches. The opening 
of each gateway is ten feet. Two folding-doors have 
closed the entrance, which, when thrown back, have 
fallen into recesses prepared for them. Some of the 
pivot holes of the doors remain, which exhibit a 
circular chafing, and are slightly tinged with the 
oxide of iron. The security of the northern gate- 
way did not entirely depend upon the solidity of its 
masonry, or the strength of its doors. It opens upon 
a sort of cliff, and the road from it does not lead 
directly away, but runs for a little distance under 
the Wall, so as to give an opportunity of more 
readily acting against an enemy. 

The masonry of the whole building, but particu- 
larly of the gateways, is peculiarly fresh. The lines 
that have been lightly chiselled on some of the large 
rustic slabs of the gateways, in order to guide the 
workmen in correctly placing those above which 

2 k 



250 THE CAWFIELDS CASTELLUM. 

project less than than the others, are still quite dis- 
tinct. The stone is of a very durable nature, 
but it is difficult to conceive how such slender 
markings, particularly when in a horizontal posi- 
tion, could long resist the action of the weather. 
Were we to judge only from the appearance of the 
masonry, we might be led to suppose that the build- 
ing had been enveloped in its own ruins not long 
after its erection — perhaps in that dreadful irruption 
of the Caledonians which brought Severus to this 
country — and that it was never afterwards repaired. 
In clearing out the interior of this building, no 
traces of party-walls, of a substantial character at 
least, were found. It stands upon a slope of about 
one foot in five, and, towards the hanging side of it, 
the ground has been rendered horizontal by ' made 
earth.' Some fragments of gray slate, pierced for 
roofing, were found among the rubbish ; it is there- 
fore not improbable that a shed was laid against the 
southern wall for the protection of the soldiers. At 
about the elevation which the raised floor would 
reach, the Wall is, in one place, eaten away by the 
action of fire. Here, probably, was the hearth round 
which the shivering soldiers of the south clustered, 
to forget, in the recital of their country's tales, the 
fierce Caledonians who prowled around them, or the 
still fiercer tempests, which all their valour and all 
their engineering skill could not exclude from their 
dwellings. With the exception of such sheds, or mere 
temporary erections, the whole building seems to have 
been open above. Two large fragments of funereal slabs 



THE CAWFIELDS CASTELLUM. 



251 




were found in the castellum ; one of them has been 
roughly shaped into a circular form, and is reddened 
by fire ; the letters which remain are distinct and 
well formed. Has it been the hearth ? The inscription 
has been erased from the other. Another stone of 
still greater interest was found here, furnishing ad- 
ditional evidence of the erection of the mile-castles 
by Hadrian. From the annexed cut, 
it will at once be perceived that it 
is a duplicate of the inscription, 
already described, in which the second 
legion endeavours to perpetuate its 
name, and those of its emperor, 
Hadrian, and Aulus Platorius Nepos, 
his legate. There cannot be a doubt 
that the castellum and the Wall were built at the 
same time, and by the same parties ; if Hadrian 
therefore built the one, the other is erroneously 
ascribed to Severus. 

Two small silver coins were found amongst the 
rubbish within the castellum, one of Vespasian, the 
other of Marcus Aurelius. Although their testi- 
mony is of a negative character, it will be observed, 
that it is not inconsistent with the idea, that the 
castle was erected in the time of Hadrian, and with 
the opinion already hazarded, that it was dismantled 
at an early period. There were also found large pieces 
of earthen-ware, chiefly of the coarser kinds, and 
fragments of millstones formed of lava, which shew 
that culinary operations were carried on within these 
cold, bare walls, and a solitary oyster-shell among 



252 TEMPORARY CAMP. 

the rubbish bore testimony to the attachment of the 
Romans to this article of luxury. The mile-castle 
is very nearly midway between the seas. 

Besides the articles already enumerated, there 
were picked up within the castellum some large glass 
beads of somewhat singular appearance, (Plate VII., 
figs. 7, 8,) and a fibula of brass. The whole of these 
relics are safely deposited in the collection of anti- 
quities at Chesters. The interesting building is, 
happily, upon an estate belonging to John Clayton, 
esq. ; the hand of the spoiler will therefore not be 
allowed to touch it. 

About one hundred and fifty yards south of the cas- 
tellum, is a spring of excellent water. Near it, about 
midway between the Vallum and the Wall, an altar 
to Apollo was lately discovered, which will after- 
wards be described. 

A road leads from the vicinity of the mile-castle 
to the town of Haltwhistle, in the sheltered valley of 
the Tyne, whither, should the shades of evening be 
approaching, the way-worn antiquary may be glad to 
bend his steps. At the point where the path joins the 
modern military road, a Roman camp will be ob- 
served. On the sides which are most exposed, 
double and triple lines of earth-works have been 
raised. The rock on the western face of the ground 
where the camp stands, has been wrought by the 
Romans for stones, and the camp has given them tem- 
porary protection. It was here that the inscription 
on the face of the rock, leg. vi. v., was discovered 
in 1847, as already mentioned, page 81. The quarry, 



HALTWHISTLE. 253 

not being required for the use of the district, was 
shortly afterwards closed. 

The Castle-hill at Haltwhistle is, apparently, a di- 
luvial deposit; ramparts, still quite distinct, run round 
the margin of its summit. Several peel-houses in the 
town and its vicinity, will interest the antiquary . h 

To those who cherish the religious views of the 
early Anglican reformers, it will be interesting to 
remember, that this is the native district of Nicholas 
Ridley, bishop and martyr. Willimoteswick-castle, 
his reputed birth-place, is on the south bank of the 
Tyne, about three miles below Haltwhistle/ 

h A dilapidated building, near the east end of the town, illus- 
trates some of the peculiarities of this species of border fortress. The 
lower portion of it was devoted to the reception of cattle — the 
upper was occupied by the family. The floor of the second story 
consists of stone flags laid upon massive beams of oak, very roughly 
dressed. The object of this arrangement has probably been to 
prevent the enemy, who might get possession of the lower part of 
the building without being able to take the upper part by storm, 
from applying, with much success at least, fire to the floor. The 
stone slates of the roof were generally fastened with the bones of 
sheeps' trotters — a most durable fastening — instead of wood en -pins ; 
but, in this instance, the original roof has been removed. 

* Whilst lying in prison, and cheerfully waiting for the time 
when he should be offered, his mind reverted to the scenes and 
companions of his youth. * My hope was of late that I should 
have come among you, and to have brought with me abundance 
of Christ's blessed gospel, according to the duty of that office and 
ministry whereunto among you I was chosen, named, and appoint- 
ed, by the mouth of that our late peerless prince, king Edward, ' 
In a letter, in which, as one * minding to take a far journey/ 
he bids farewell to his loving brothers and sisters, and his well- 
beloved and worshipful cousins, he specifies many of the well- 
known localities of this district, then their places of residence. 



254 HALTWHISTLE-BURN-HEAD. 

Rejoining the Wall, Haltwhistle-burn-head is the 
first object of interest that we meet with in our course 
westward. The burn, to which important reference 
will presently be made, is derived from the overflow- 
ings of Greenlee-lough. Between its source, and 
the gap by which it passes the ridge on which the 
Wall stands, it is called the Caw-burn ; below that 
point it bears the name of Haltwhistle-burn. 

As the width of the defile, and the passage of the 
stream, render this a weak point in the barrier, the 
two lines of fortification approach very near to each 
other ; they afterwards again diverge. 

Westward of Burn-head farm-house, the fosse is 
boldly developed, but the Wall is traceable only in 
the ruins of its foundation. As we proceed onwards 
to Great Chesters, the foundations of a mile-castle 
which has stood half to the north of the Wall, and 
half within it, may be, though not without careful 
scrutiny, observed. The tower which formerly stood 
at Portgate is the only other known example of a 
similar arrangement. 

VESICA, or Great Chesters, is the tenth stationary 
camp on the line of the Wall. Its superficial con- 
tents are 3 acres, 35 poles. The ramparts and fosse 
are clearly defined. The southern gateway may be 
traced ; it is nearer the eastern than the western 
side. A double rampart of earth seems to have 
given additional security to the western side, which, 
by situation, is the weakest. A vaulted room in the 
centre of the camp still answers very correctly to 



GREAT CHESTERS. 255 

the description given of it in 1800 by Dr. Lingard, 
(quoted by Hodgson, II. iii. 203.) 

It is 6^ feet square, and 5 feet high. It was descended by 
steps, and had, at the opposite end to its entrance, a sort of 
bench, raised on mason work, 2^ feet wide and high, and co- 
vered with a slab of stone. The roof consisted of six similar 
and contiguous arches of stone, each 15 inches broad. It had 
also one pillar. The floor had on it a great quantity of ashes, 
was flagged, and on raising one of the stones, a spring gushed 
out, which converted the vault into a well. 

About one hundred and fifty yards south of the 
station, in a field which has for years been furrowed 
by the plough, the remains of a building of somewhat 
rude construction have just been discovered. Its 
floor, consisting, for the most part, of the usual 
compost, is nearly a foot thick. Further examin- 
ation would probably disclose, in its vicinity, the 
foundations of numerous suburban buildings. 

An ancient road leads from the southern gateway 
of the station to the great military way which ran 
from Cilurnum to Magna. 

The station of iEsicA, according to the Notitia, was 
about the year 430, garrisoned by the cohors prima 
Astorum. k Horsley (writing in 1731) observes, that no 
inscriptions had been found here mentioning the first 
cohort of the Asti, or any other cohort. In 1761, how- 
ever, an inscription was dug up in this station, which is 
now deposited in the museum at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, recording that in the reign of Alexander 

* Labbe's edition of the Notitia Imperii, published at Paris, 1 65 1 . 



256 



VESICA. 



Severus (200 years before the date of the Notitia) 
the ' cohors secunda Asturum' rebuilt a granary 
here which had fallen into decay from age — ' horreum 
vetustate conlabsum.' It is to be observed that the 
spelling of ' Asturum' is similar to that of the inscrip- 
tion at Cilurnum, and we do not find that the second 
cohort, either of the Asti or Astures, is mentioned 
elsewhere as part of the Roman auxiliary forces in 
Britain. 

Near the eastern gateway of the station there has 
been lately dug up a large mural tablet, shewn in 
the wood-cut, and bearing the following inscription : 




J STOREY/DEI 



JBUTTING.SG' 



IMP. CLES. TRAl[AlN. HADRIA 
NO AVG. PfATItl] P[ATRI^E]. 

To the emperor Csesar Trajanus Hadria- 
nus Augustus, the father of his country. 

It is not probable that this slab has been derived 
from the Vallum, which is upwards of a quarter of a 
mile from the station/ Why the upper part of the 

1 It is preserved in the collection of antiquities at Chesters. 



about two-thirds up, may be noticed a line that reminds 
the spectator of the parallel roads in Glenroy and other 

2l 




■sc 


ALE 


FOR PL A It. 


'" 


'- 


" " " "I"" 






' Jjtajs Sr/A.y 7/.' Mi- ■'■ 



"S 



ZZ EXTENDING FROM 

jTgiiy-imc was* wmi 





ETYMOLOGY OF iESICA. 257 

tablet was left blank does not appear ; enough, 
however, has been inserted to support the theory, 
that Hadrian built the Wall. Although several of 
the stations were probably built before the Wall, 
and were quite independent of it, this can scarcely 
have been one of them ; its position seems to indi- 
cate that it was called into existence in order to 
accommodate the mural garrison. 

Celtic authorities all agree in tracing the name 
iEsiCA to a word signifying water. The propriety 
of such an appellation does not at first sight appear. 
The camp is far from either the eastern or western 
sea; no lake is visible from its ramparts ; the only 
water which is near is the Haltwhistle-burn, a 
somewhat tiny stream. The low ground to the 
south has a fenny aspect, but the station itself stands 
high and dry, though upon a part of the mural 
ridge less elevated than usual. It is not improbable 
that it may have derived its name from an aqueduct 
which leads the water from the Greenlee-lough to 
the camp. As this water- course has hitherto escaped 
the notice of writers upon the Wall, and is a work 
of considerable interest, a somewhat detailed de- 
scription of it may be allowable. 

THE WATER-COURSE AT .&SICA. 

The camp, though not greatly elevated, stands higher than 
the ground, either north or south of it. The country to the 
north, though generally flat, is studded with numerous hills 
of moderate elevation. On the sides of some of these, 
about two-thirds up, may be noticed a line that reminds 
the spectator of the parallel roads in Glenroy and other 

2l 



258 .fcsicA. 

places. On examination, it is found to be an artificial 
cutting, made with evident reference to the maintenance of 
the water level. The sections given in Plate XVI., 
shew its size and form. In some places the water stands in 
it yet ; in others a mass of peat fills it ; and very frequently, 
where the channel has been obliterated, its course is shewn by 
a line of rushes, which grow on the damp ground. Where- 
ever the water-course can be distinctly discerned, it has 
been laid down in the accompanying plan by a green line ; 
where the traces of it are lost, the line of the water level 
has been pursued, and is indicated by dots of the same 
colour. 

The whole length of the water- course is six miles ; the 
distance in a straight line is little more than two miles and 
a quarter. It takes its commencement at the Saughy-rig- 
washpool, which is formed by the occasional damming up of 
the Caw-burn, at about a mile from its exit from the Green- 
lee-lough. In the immediate vicinity of the burn, the side of 
the water-course next the rivulet which would be endangered 
by the overflowing of the natural stream, is made up with flat 
stones put in endwise, some of which still remain as shewn in 
the section at B, in the plan. In its course to the station, in 
order at once to preserve the level, and avoid the necessity of 
using forced embankments or stone aqueducts, it is taken 
along the sides of the moderately elevated hills which rise 
from the plain. So ingeniously is this done, that once only 
has it been necessary to cross a valley by an artifical mound 
of earth. This has been at a spot between the third and 
fourth mile of the water-course, and which is still known in 
the district by the name of Benks-bridge, though probably 
few of the inhabitants are aware of the evident origin of the 
term. Some ingenuity has been employed in fixing the site 
of this mound. It is placed in that part of the valley where 
there is a slight descent on each side of it ; the drainage of 
the surface is thus provided for without the use of a culvert ; 
the surface water on the west, naturally making for the Halt- 
whistle-burn, that on the east for the river Tipalt. The mound 
which has taken the water-course across the valley at Benks- 



THE WATER-COURSE. 



259 



bridge has entirely disappeared, having probably been absorbed, 
in the course of ages, by the mossy ground on which it stood. 
The whole fall of the water-course, reckoning from the Wash- 
pool to the bottom of the arched chamber in the centre of the 
station is thirty feet. This is distributed over its entire 
length in the way shewn in the following table : — 



Commencing at A . . 



6 B 

1 5 . 

2 4 . 

3 4* . 

4 9 . 

6 . 

7 84 

64 . 

1 3| 

3 24 . 

4 C 

5 . 

1 6} 



2 10 fall. 

3 10 „ 
3 7 „ 

7 „ 
6 ,. 



. 4 li„ 
3 7 „ 

.36,, 
3 10 „ 

.59,, 
11 4 „ 

.11 2 „ 



At 2 
2 



6 01 

7 5 E 
. 
3 

6 . 

1 3 

3 5 . 



fl. in. 

11 10 



fall 



14 

21 
23 
23 



29 10 
25 3 



AT North end, lOS 
U lBenks-brid S e j Z0 

South end, Do. 29 

5 . . 



51 
4 
5 . 



29 9 
. 29 11 

23 6 
. 28 11 

29 



6 



iPrvsentt 
of arched 
bar in c« 
of stat 



ottom" 
chedchom- 1 
Centre I 
station. 



30 4 



The nature of the ground threw considerable difficulties in 
the way of the engineer, which accounts for the exceedingly 
tortuous nature of the track pursued. It is indeed remark- 
able that without the aid of accurate levelling instruments, 
any one could be so fully assured that the requisite fall ex- 
isted as to venture upon the task of its formation. The 
workmen in the execution of the design probably drew the 
water along with them as they proceeded. In one place, (G) 
they seem to have made too free with the fall, and after 
proceeding for some distance, (upwards of a furlong) have 
retraced their steps, and constructed the cutting at a 
higher level. In crossing the valleys, there is sometimes an 
unusual loss of fall. This is particularly the case at the third 
mile (E) where there is a difference in the level of the course, 
on the opposite side of the slack, of nearly ten feet. This 
valley is permeated by a streamlet, and to take the water 



260 iEsicA. 

across it at the level previously preserved, a stone aqueduct 
would have been necessary. Appearances seem to indicate 
that an easier plan was adopted. A dam being formed across 
the hanging side of the valley, the water of the course was 
allowed to deliver itself freely into it, and eventually rising 
after the manner of a mill-head to the level of the course on 
the western side, pursued its way as before. That this plan 
was the result of a change in the design of the architect 
seems evident, for on the eastern side of the valley a second 
cutting (E) has been made at a lower level than the other, 
apparently with the view of leading the water more gradually 
to the lower point. 

Unfortunately all traces of the water-course are lost for 
some distance before approaching the station, so that it can- 
not be ascertained where it entered it, if it did so at all. 

That some important object was gained by the formation 
of so long a cutting is undoubted, but what that object was 
is a perplexing question. It can scarcely be supposed that 
the garrison at iEsiCA were dependent for their daily supply 
of so important an article as water upon an open cutting outside 
the Barrier. The feeblest of their foes could, in an instant, 
cut off the provision. No doubt the country, for some dis- 
tance north of the Wall, was held in subjection by the Roman 
forces, but when the Wall was built, and the station planned, 
such was not the case. The station itself is not destitute of 
water. A well, sunk some years ago, to the depth of twenty- 
four feet, yields to the tenants of the farm-house an unfailing 
supply. I am disposed to think that the water brought by 
the cutting was to give to the north rampart of the station 
the advantage of a wet ditch. By throwing an embankment 
across the depression on the north of the station, as it begins 
to slope down to the bed of the Haltwhistle-burn, a consider- 
able body of water would lodge here. The station of iEsieA 
was an important one. In a particularly wild district, at an 
unusual distance from the great lines of Eoman communica- 
tion, and close beside the great opening in the mural ridge, 
by which the waters of the Forest of Lowes effect a passage 
to the low grounds, it would be peculiarly exposed to the 



THE WATER-COURSE. 261 

attacks of the enemy. Although somewhat elevated above 
the ground north of the Wall, it is not so much so as to be 
impregnable on that quarter. A body of water collected here 
to keep the enemy at a still greater distance might not be 
beneath the attention of the garrison. Any temporary inter- 
ference with the aqueduct would in this case be productive 
of no inconvenience. The existence of a water-course on the 
enemy's side of the Wall at Hunnum, which may have served 
a similar purpose, has already been noticed. At Bremenium, 
High Rochester, some guttered stones, covered with flags, 
were recently found lying in a direction which led to the sup- 
position, that they brought water from some springs outside 
the station to the eastern moat. 

In the Archseologia iEliana™ is a plan and description of 
an ancient aqueduct, which brought water from some distant 
rivulets to the station at Lanchester. It consists of two 
branches, the longer of which is nearly four miles in extent. 
Earthen embankments, to preserve the level, are occasionally 
used in both of them, and, as they run over sandy ground, 
the bottom of them has been puddled. The two lines, after 
uniting, deliver their water into a reservoir outside the station, 
near to its south-west corner. That the water of this aque- 
duct cannot have been used for domestic purposes appears 
from what Hodgson, the author of the paper, adds — ' Several 
wells have, from time to time, been discovered here by la- 
bourers, on the outside of the walls, and there is a plentiful 
spring at a short distance from where the bath stood.' 

Whatever may have been the object served, the water- 
course at iEsiCA is a striking memorial of the skill, fore- 
thought, and industry of the Roman garrisons. At the pre- 
sent day, in a highly civilized country, and after the enjoy- 
ment of a long period of internal peace, we are but beginning 
to see the necessity of bringing water from a distance into 
our large towns. An individual garrison, exposed to all the 
hazards of war, scrupled not, even fourteen or sixteen cen- 

m Arch, M\mnd, i. 118. 



262 jESica. 

turies ago, for some purpose which they thought important, 
to cut a water-course six miles long ! 

It is not a little remarkable too, that after the lapse of so 
long a period, the cutting should be distinctly visible through 
so large a portion of its track. 

The view which is here taken of the object of the water- 
course is not given because it is absolutely satisfactory, but 
because it presents the fewest difficulties. We might have 
expected that if a miniature lake had been formed on the 
north of the station, some remains of the embankment neces- 
sary to confine its waters would appear ; none are, however, 
to be observed. The soil, on being turned up, has not the 
black and sludgy aspect, which might be anticipated, but is 
of a yellow hue ; the bottom of a pond at Wall-mill, which 
was drained within living memory, has, however, a precisely 
similar appearance. 

To the south of Great Chesters is W all-mill, near 
to which the burying ground of the station seems to 
have been. Brand observed here several remark- 
able barrows, and was shewn some of the graves 
which had been opened. ' They consisted ' he tells 
us, ' of side stones set down into the earth, and 
covered at top with other larger stones.' He took 
them to be very early Christian sepulchres ; this is 
more than doubtful. The progress of agricultural 
improvement has obliterated all traces of the ceme- 
tery ; to one, however, of its sepulchral monuments 
eference will afterwards be made. 

The Romans systematically avoided intra-mural 
interments. The following is one of the laws of the 
Twelve Tables : 

HOMINEM MORTUUM IN URBE NE SEPELITO NEVE UR1T0. 

It is remarkable that at so early a period of the his- 



COCK-MOUNT-HILL. 263 

tory of the republic, attention should have been 
turned to this subject, and that in a digest of legis- 
lation so brief as that referred to, this should form 
one of the enactments. 

Shortly after leaving iEsiCA, the crags again ap- 
pear, and the Wall ascends the heights. At Cock- 
mount-hill, about a quarter of a mile forward, the 
Murus is four or five feet high. On the Ollalee 
ground, it is six and seven feet high, and shews on 
the north, nine courses of facing-stones ; at another 
place, ten courses appear, and the height is six feet 
four inches." The earth-works are seen in the val- 
ley below, covered with the whin, called by botanists, 
Genista Anglica. The continuous sandstone ridge is 
deeply scarred with ancient quarries. Here the 
view is most extensive, Skiddaw, Crossfell, and other 
celebrated summits, shewing themselves conspicu- 
ously on the south, and Burnswark, a peculiar flat- 
topped eminence, and several more distant hills, on 
the north. A truncated pyramid of stones and earth, 
used by the ordnance surveyors/ has been left upon 
the elevated ridge, called Mucklebank-crag. 

The next defile that we reach is a very wide one, 
and is denominated Walltown crags. Walltown 
consists of a single house, which, though now occu- 
pied by the tenant of the farm, bears marks of hav- 
ing formerly been a place of strength, and the 
residence of persons of consideration. Ridley the 

n History of the Picts' or Romano- British Wall, 35. 
Hodgson, II. iii. 293. p History of the Picts' Wall, 35. 



264 WALLTOWN- CRAGS. 

Martyr refers with much affection in his valedictory 
letter to his brother who resided here : — 

Farewell, my dearly beloved brother John Ridley of the 
Waltoune, and you my gentle and loving sister, Elizabeth, 
whom, besides the natural league of amity, your tender love, 
which you were said ever to bear towards me above the rest 
of your brethren, doth bind me to love. My mind was to 
have acknowledged this your loving affection, and to have re* 
quited it with deeds, and not with words alone. Your 
daughter Elizabeth I bid farewell, whom I love for the meek 
and gentle spirit that God hath given her, which is a precious 
thing in the sight of God. 

In the crevices of the whin rock, near the house, 
chives grow abundantly. The general opinion of 
the country is, that they are the produce of plants 
cultivated by the Romans, who were much addicted 
to the use of this and kindred vegetables. This be- 
lief is but a modification of the more extended 
statements of our earliest writers on the Wall. 
Sampson Erdeswicke in 1574, says — 

The Skotts lyches, or surgeons, do yerely repayr to the 
sayd Roman Wall next to thes, (Oaer Vurron) to gether 
sundry herbs for surgery, for that it is thought that the 
Romaynes there by had planted most nedefull herbes for 
sundry purposes, but howsoever it was, these herbes are fownd 
very wholesome. 

Camden gives an account precisely similar. 

On the eastern declivity of the gap, and near the 
line of the Wall, is a well, which, in the district, is 
generally called king Arthur's Well. Brand, how- 
ever, gives a different account of it : — 

At Walltown, I saw the well wherein Paulinus is said to 
have baptized king Ecfrid. It has evidently been enclosed, 



NINE-NICKS OF THIRLWALL. 



265 



which indicates something remarkable in so open and wild a 
country. Some wrought stones lay near it. The water is 
very cool and fine. 

The western ascent is steep. Hutton tells us he was 
sometimes obliged to crawl on all fours. On the 
summit are evident traces of a mile-castle. 

We now enter upon a most interesting part of the 
line. The mural ridge, divided by frequent breaks 
into as many isolated crags, is denominated the 
Nine Nicks of Thirlwall. The view from the edge 
of the cliff is extensive ; stunted trees unite with the 
craggy character of the rock in giving variety to the 
foreground. The Wall adheres, with tolerable per- 
tinacity, to the edge of the crags, and hence pursues 
a course that is by no means direct. The accom- 
panying wood- cut, which exhibits the view looking 




eastwards, shews the zig-zag path which it adopts. 
Nearly all our historians agree in stating that the 

2 M 



266 WALLTOWN-CRAGS. 

most perfect specimens of the Wall now remaining, 
are on Walltown crags. Certain it is that all who 
have examined the other parts of the Wall with care, 
will visit this with peculiar pleasure ; but such are the 
varied features which each section of the Barrier 
presents, and the consequent interest which each 
excites, that it is difficult to determine which part, 
on the whole, is most worthy of attention. 

For a considerable distance along the crags, the 
Wall is in excellent preservation, presenting, on the 
north side, in several places, ten courses of facing- 
stones, and in one, twelve. In the highest part it is 
eight feet nine inches high, and nine feet thick. The 
military way may in many places be seen, avoiding 
very dexterously the more abrupt declivities of its 
rocky path. 

At length the cliffs, which extend in a nearly un- 
broken series from Sewingshields to Carvoran, sink 
into a plain, and the fertility and the beauty of a 
well-cultivated country re-appear. 

However pleasing the change, the traveller will 
not fail occasionally to look back upon the road he 
has trod, and view with secret satisfaction those bold 
and airy heights which so well symbolize the austere 
and undaunted spirit of that great people whose works 
he is contemplating ; and when in after years, and it 
may be in some region far distant, the image of them 
rises in his imagination, he will be ready to exclaim — 

I feel the gales that from ye blow 
A momentary bliss bestow. 



CARVORAN. 267 

MAGNA, the modern Carvoran, lies to the south 
both of the Vallum and Wall. The nature of the 
ground in its neighbourhood seems to have dictated 
this arrangement. The Wall occupies the edge of 
a strip of elevated ground, the benefit of which, as a 
position of strength against an enemy, it was desirable 
not to lose. Had the station been placed as usual 
on the line of the Wall, the Vallum, in skirting its 
southern rampart, would have been brought into a 
swamp that occupies the valley between the high 
ground on which the Wall stands, and the somewhat 
commanding site of the station. Both the lines of the 
Barrier have therefore been allowed to pursue their 
parallel course nearly together, and the station has 
been placed about two hundred and fifty yards within 
the Wall, on a platform which is sufficiently defended 
on the south by the declivity that slopes from it 
to the modern village of Greenhead. 

It is not impossible, however, that Magna may 
have been one of Agricola's forts, the valley, through 
which the river Tipalt flows, requiring the adoption 
of this method of resisting the aggressions of the 
Caledonians. 

The station has enclosed an area of four acres and 
a half. Having, a few years ago, been brought under 
tillage, it is with difficulty that even its outline can 
now be traced ; some fragments of the north ram- 
part, however, remain, and the north fosse is distinct. 2 

9 The owner of the ground was provoked to obliterate the re- 
mains of this ancient city, in consequence of the manner in which 
curiosity -mongers (not antiquaries) trespassed on his fields, in their 
way to the station, instead of taking the beaten track. 



CARVORAN. 269 

are engraved (of the full size) on Plate XL They 
vary from half-an-inch to two inches in diameter, 
and have a circular hole in the centre. For the 
most part they are composed of sherds of Samian 
ware, occasionally, of jet, and of amber ; at Car- 
voran are some of rude shape, made of imperfectly 
burnt clay and shale. Various conjectures have been 
hazarded respecting their use ; the most probable is, 
that they were employed as tallies, the small beads 
representing units, the large, tens. In the inn at 
Glenwhelt are preserved a magnificent pair of stag's 
horns, nearly perfect, which were found in the well 
of the station ; each antler is a yard long. In the 
possession of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, are several valuable inscribed stones 
derived from this station, which have been presented 
by Colonel Coulson of Blenkinsop Hall. 

Magna, during the days of Roman occupation, 
must have been a place of considerable importance. 
Not only did the road which leads directly from 
Cilurnum, come up to it, but the Maiden-way, from 
Whitley Castle and the south, ran through it, as is 
supposed, to Bewcastle and the other stations north 
of the Wall, as shewn on the Map, Plate I. 

Rejoining the lines of the Barrier, we find them 
about to descend into the valley watered by the 
Tipalt, insaniens flumen, as Camden calls it. The 
moat of the Wall is peculiarly well develop- 
ed, that of the Vallum, though less so, is still 
distinct; they are exactly parallel to each other. 
Before the traveller forsakes his present elevation, 



270 THIRLWALL CASTLE. 

it will be well for him to mark the westward 
course of the objects of his study, lest he lose 
their track in the swampy ground fronting Thirlwall 
Castle. A valley of considerable extent stretches 
before him ; on the north brow of it, at the distance 
of about three miles, Gilsland Spa is situated ; the 
works of the Barrier stand upon its southern edge. 
The trough of the north fosse may easily be dis- 
cerned where it is intersected by the railway. 

It has been suggested that one of the objects 
contemplated by the Romans in the construction 
of a double line of fortification, was the enclosure 
of a space of ground which might be cultivated by 
the garrison, and where their cattle might graze in 
security. If this had been the case, the Wall would 
have been drawn along the northern margin of the 
wide and fruitful valley of Gilsland, and the Val- 
lum along its southern edge. 

Thirlwall Castle is, as Hutchinson calls it, e a dark, 
melancholy fortress' of the middle age/ It was 
for many centuries previous to its purchase by 
the ancestors of the earl of Carlisle, the residence 
of an ancient Northumbrian family of the name 
of Thirlwall. Amongst the witnesses examined 
on the occasion of the famous suit between the 
families of Scrope and Grosvenor, for the right 

e Thirl, from the Saxon thirlian, signifies to pierce, to bore. It 
is generally supposed, that this stronghold derived its name from 
the Scots having broken through the Wall here. It may, however, 
have taken it from the sluice or bridge where the river passed 
through the Wall ; thirl, says Hutchinson, being frequently 
applied to the opening left in moor fences for sheep to pass through. 



THIRLWALL CASTLE. 271 

to bear the shield ' azure, a bend or/ which was 
opened at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1385, before 
king Richard II. in person, was John Thirlwall, an 
esquire of Northumberland. The witness related 
what he had heard on the subject of the dispute, from 
his father, who € died at the age of 145, and was when 
he died the oldest esquire in all the North, and had 
been in arms in his time sixty-nine years.' Such is 
the language of the record of these proceedings, pre- 
served in the Tower of London. 

This locality may also bring to the reader's re- 
membrance the lines in Marmion — 

The whiles a Northern harper rude 

Chaunted a rhyme of deadly feud, 

1 How the fierce Thirlwalls, and Ridley s all, 

Stout Willimondsioick, 

And Hardriding Dick, 

And Hughie ofHawdon, and Will d 1 the Wall, 

Have set on Sir Albany Featherstonhaugh, 

And taken his life at the Deadman's-shaw.' 1 — 

It is not generally known that this 'ancient ditty,' 
which sir Walter Scott gives at length in a note as a 
genuine antique, is a modern fabrication, the produc- 
tion of his correspondent Surtees, the historian of 
Durham. The ballad, however, breathes the very 
spirit of the fierce borderers, or it would not have 
deceived so accomplished an antiquary as Scott. 

The walls of the castle are nine feet thick, and 
are faced, both inside and outside, with stones taken 
from the Roman Wall. It is a singular thing to 
see a building, formed out of a prior structure, itself 



272 CENTRAL REGION OF THE BARRIER. 

in ruins, and becoming a prey to yet more modern 
depredators. The stones remain meanwhile, whether 
in the primeval structure, or in those of mediaeval 
and recent date, as good as ever. Brand observes — 

There is built up near the inn at Glenwhelt, a most bar- 
barous, gigantic head of stone, which is most certainly not 
Roman. It came from Thirlwall Castle, and has no doubt 
belonged to some of those hideous figures made use of anciently 
in such castles to frighten the distant enemy. 

Brand's original still graces the 
vicinity of the inn, and its 
effigy, this page. Its ugliness 
is no proof that it is not Roman ; 
but, after all, whose beauty 
would not be tarnished by ex- 
posure such as it has en- 
dured ? 

That portion of the line which lies between the 
Tipalt and the Irthing is probably weaker than any 
other between Wallsend and Bowness. Not only 
is the ground flat, but it is destitute of the aid which 
copious rivers give it, both at its eastern and western 
extremities. Throughout the whole of this district, 
both barriers keep close together. Except in the 
neighbourhood of Rose -hill, no portion of the stone 
Wall remains in all this tract. 

The country between the Tipalt and the Solway 
is characterized by a number of diluvial hills, not 
unfrequently resembling barrows. To the south of 
Brampton, they are so numerous and so nearly uni- 
form in size and shape as to suggest to the playful 




VALLUM AT WALLEND. 273 

imagination the idea of their being gigantic mole- 
hills. The occurrence of these in the line of the 
Barrier must have caused some trouble to the en- 
gineer of the Wall. The difficulty, however, was 
overcome. The first hill of this description 
that we meet with, occurs immediately westward of 
the point where the Newcastle and Carlisle railroad 
crosses the mural line. The Wall unhesitatingly 
ascends it on the one side, and descends it on the 
other, though it would scarcely have described a 
larger arc had it gone round its base. 

About half-a-mile onward is a small village, called 
Wallend. The earth-works are, for a short distance, 
in an admirable state of preservation ; nowhere 
else is the Vallum seen to greater advantage. 

A peculiarity in the relative position of the Wall 
and Vallum will here force itself upon the attention. 
The Wall, which, for the larger portion of its course, 
stands considerably above the Vallum, now takes a 
lower level, and for nearly the whole space between 
this point and the Irthing, is completely commanded 
by the earthen ramparts. The following diagram will 




give a general idea of the country, and of the mutu- 
al relation between the two structures. Had the 
Wall (A) and Vallum (B) been independent under- 

2 N 



274 CHAPEL HOUSE. 

takings, this arrangement would not have been adopt- 
ed. The earth-works ascribed to Hadrian having been 
found inefficient, would have been relentlessly cut in 
upon by the officers of Severus, who would doubtless 
have planted the Wall in those positions which were 
naturally the strongest, irrespective of any prior 
work. As it is, to give the Vallum the advantage 
of an eminence in resisting a southern foe, the Wall 
relinquishes a portion of the acclivity which it might 
with advantage have taken. 

Chapel-house and Fowl-town, two contiguous 
farm-houses, are next met with in our course. 
Chapel-house is probably the site of a mile-castle, 
it having been constructed out of the materials of a 
prior building, which boasted walls of great thick- 
ness. An inscribed stone, 
of which the woodcut is a 
copy, is to be seen lying 
in an out-house, from the 
walls of which it has re- 
cently been taken. The letters on one end have 
been worn away. The inscription may be read — 

nerv^e n[epoti] To the grandson of Nerva, 

TRAfiANo] Hadrian] Trajanus Hadrianus 

AVG[VST01 AugUStUS, 

leg. xx. vv. The twentieth legion, valiant and victorious. 

This is another testimony which recent research 
has brought to light, of the part which Hadrian 
and the twentieth legion bore in the construction, 
both of the Wall and the Vallum. 




MUMP S HALL. 



275 



At the village of Gap, the Vallum, which is very 
distinct, stands considerably above the Wall. The 
place is said to take its name from the Wall having 
been broken through here at an early period. 

Rose-hill is a hill no longer. The top of the 
diluvial mount was thrown into the surrounding 
hollow, in order to afford a site for the railway sta- 
tion, that has assumed the name of the summit 
which it displaced. 

In the immediate neighbourhood of Rose-hill is 
Mump's-hall, formerly the residence of the Meg 
Merrilies of sir Walter Scott : — 

1 MumpVhair, says Hodgson, ' according to tradition, was 
once a public-house, kept by a notorious person of the name 
of Meg Teasdale, who drugged to death such of her guests as 
had money. In Guy Mannering she glares in the horrid 
character of Meg Merrilies. But certainly all this tradition 
is deeply coloured with unpardonable slander against the an- 
cient and respectable family of the Teasdales of Mump's-hall. 1 

Sir Walter Scott was in early life an occasional resident at 
Gilsland. The broad, flat stone is pointed out, a little above 
the Shaws Hotel, on which tradition asserts he was standing 
when he declared to the subsequent lady Scott the emotions 
which agitated his bosom. He had therefore the opportunity 
of becoming acquainted with the district and its traditions. 

The small thatched cottage, opposite to the road leading 
from the railway station, is usually pointed out as the residence 
of Meg, but it is not the one which was occupied by her. She 
lived in the larger building beyond, round which the road bends 
at a right angle. The front of the house is modernized, but the 
back of it still retains the character of a border fortress. My 
information upon this and other subjects respecting her, has 
been derived from an individual residing in the district, whose 
mother knew Meg well, and visited her upon her death-bed. 
Although the heroine of MumpVhall was cast in a mould 



276 POLTROSS-BURN. 

somewhat suited to the state of the district at that time, Bhe 
was not the fiend-like woman that she is generally represented. 
One murder, however, the tradition of the country lays to 
her charge. A pedlar having called upon Meg's brother, 
who kept a school at Long Byers (mid -way between Rose-hill 
and Greenhead), accidentally presented to him a box filled 
with guineas instead of his snuff-box. The traveller was re- 
quested to convey a note to MumpVhall, which he did, but 
was not seen alive afterwards. Suspicion arising, the house 
was searched, and the body found concealed among hay in 
the barn ; but the parties who made the discovery durst not 
reveal it, for fear of injury to themselves and families. About 
six weeks afterwards the body was found lying upon the 
moors. My informant added to his narrative — ' probably 
the laws were not so active in those days as at present, for 
these things could not escape now. 1 

When Meg was upon her death-bed, the curiosity of the 
neighbourhood was excited, and many of her cronies visited 
her, in hopes of hearing her disburthen her conscience respect- 
ing the death of the pedlar. They were, however, disappoint- 
ed ; for whenever she attempted to speak upon the subject, 
some one of the family, who always took care to be present, 
placed a hand upon her mouth. 

Upper Denton church is hard by. It is evidently a very 
ancient building, and possibly exhibits some Saxon work. It 
is one of the smallest churches in England, and is as damp 
and mouldy as felons'* dungeons used to be. Meg and several 
of the members of her family lie in the church-yard. Four 
tombstones, ranged in a row, mark their resting places. 

The works of the Barrier are crossed by the rail- 
way a little to the west of Rose-hill station. The Wall 
here exhibits three or four courses of facing-stones. 
A little beyond this point, the lines, still clearly de- 
fined, cross the stream called Poltross-burn, which di- 
vides the counties of Northumberland and Cumber- 
land. The gorge in which the stream flows is deep 



PASSAGE OF THE IRTHING. 277 

and well- wooded. There are no remains of a bridge 
in the valley, but traces of a mile-castle, by 
which the defile has been guarded, are distinct upon 
its western bank. Before reaching the Irthing, at a 
farm-house called Willowford, the site of another 
castellum may be discerned. From this point to the 
water's edge, the Wall and Vallum have probably 
gone in close companionship ; but this is a matter 
which cannot now be ascertained. The western bank 
of the river is lofty and precipitous. Consisting, as 
it does, chiefly of diluvial soil and gravel, on which 
the water of the stream below is continually acting, 
it is not surprising that all traces of the Wall, 
if it ever ascended the height, have long since disap- 
peared. On the very brink of the precipice above, 
the remains of the Wall and fosse re-appear. The 
faithful followers of the Wall, who have closely 
pursued its track from the eastern sea, will not be 
willing to desert their companion, even for a brief 
space, at this point. The cliff, however, will test 
their constancy. Hutton had his troubles ; he says, 
somewhat magniloquently — 

I had this river to cross, and this mountain to ascend, but 
I did not know how to perform either. I effected a passage 
over the river by the assistance of stones as large as myself, 
sometimes in and sometimes out ; but, with difficulty, reached 
the summit of the precipice by a zig-zag line, through the 
brambles, with a few scratches. 

The latest historian of the Wall attempted to as- 
cend the bank in a right line ; he has given us the 
result of his experience, as a warning to others. 



278 



AMBOGLANNA. 



None of the party completely succeeded in ascending the 
precipitous bank by the course of the Wall. The attempt is 
very dangerous, and, as success accomplishes nothing, should 
never be tried by those whose life and existence are in any 
way useful. 

On the top of the cliff is a mile-castle. To the 

north, two conical summits appear, which strongly 

resemble barrows. We now approach Birdoswald, 

the twelfth station on the line. 

AMBOGLANNA, the Birdoswald of the present 
day, is an interesting station. 
Numerous inscriptions have been 
found within its walls, mention- 
ing the first cohort of the Da- 
cians,surnamed the iElian, which, 
according to the Notitia, was 
quartered at Amboglanna. One 
of them, in the possession of 
Robert Bell, esq., of the Nook, 
Irthington, is here figured. 
i[ovi] o[ptimo] mCaximo] To Jupiter, the best and greatest, 

And the deities of Augustus, 
The first cohort (the iElian) 
Of the Dacians, commanded by 
Gallicus, 
The Tribune. 




ET NrVMINIBVS] AVG[VSTl] 
COH[ORS] PRIMA AEL[IA] 
DAC[ORVM] CVI PRt^ESTl 

GALLICVS 

TRUlBrVNVS] 



The name Amboglanna seems to signify, the 
circling glen. The former part of the word, meaning 
about, is met with in most of the western languages ; 
as the Welsh am, the Irish and Gaelic umain, the 
Saxon ymb or embe, the Greek a^yi, and the Latin 
(in compound words) amb. Glanna is obviously 



BIRDOSWALD. 279 

synonymous with the modern glen, a term of very 
frequent use in the land of the Gael. 

Here the name has been most appropriately be- 
stowed. The camp stands upon the precipitous edge 
ofatongue of land, which, on every side except the west, 
is severed from the adjoining ground by deep scars. 
Hodgson describes the spot with great accuracy — 

The Irthing, in front of the station, makes two grand and 
sweeping turns, under red scars, which have rich flat grounds 
before them, deeply fringed along the margin of the river 
with a border of alder, heckberry (Prunus Padus, or bird- 
cherry,) and other upland trees. When the banks are not 
steep, they are deeply wooded : and diluvial hills, rounded 
into vast and beautiful varieties of form, present to the eye 
rich sylvan and cultivated scenes, while their component parts, 
as the river passes their sides, expose to the geologist rounded 
specimens of the different kinds of rocks to be found in the 
plains of Cumberland, and the high mountains that lie on 
each side of the Firth of the Solway. 

The modern name presents greater difficulties 
than the ancient one. Had king Oswald been a 
denizen of these parts, which he was not, we might 
have supposed that Birdoswald was a burgh of his. 
The name is one of old standing, but the etymology 
of it can only be a subject of conjecture. f 

The station contains an area of between five and 
six acres. The walls are in an unusually good state 
of preservation ; the southern rampart shewing 
eight courses of facing-stones. Camden's statement 

S Can it have been derived from the Saxon bryddes wald or 
weald, the bird's forest ? The local pronunciation of the name of 
the place is peculiar and rather favours the proposed etymology. 



280 



AMBOGLANNA. 



is still true to the letter; — ' it has been surrounded 
with a stately wall of free- stone, about five feet thick, 
as may be fairly measured at this day/ The moat 
which surrounded the wall may also be satisfactorily 
traced. 

Although the Wall adapts itself to the north ram- 
part of the fort, the station is entirely independent 
of the Wall (see the wood-cut p. 84), and must 
have been built before it. Probably the first step 
taken in the construction of the Barrier, in every 
case, was the erection of the stationary camps. 

The Vallum cannot now be traced in the immedi- 
ate vicinity of the station ; but Gordon tells us, that 
it came close up to the southern rampart. 

The southern gateway may be discerned, though 
^_ it is encumber- 

ed with rubbish ; 
the eastern and 
western have re- 
cently been di- 
vested of much 
of the matter that 
has for ages ob- 
scured them. The 
wood-cut, repre- 
senting the west- 
ern portal, as seen 
from the inside, 
exhibits the pivot-holes of the gates, and the ruts 
worn by the chariots or wagons of the Romans. 
The ruts are nearly four feet two inches apart, 




BtRDOSWALD. 281 

the precise gauge of the chariot marks in the 
east gateway at Housesteads. The more perfect 
of the pivot-holes exhibits a sort of spiral groov- 
ing, which seems to have been formed with a 
view of rendering the gate self-closing. The aper- 
ture in the sill of the doorway, near the lower 
jamb, has been made designedly, as a similar vacuity 
occurs in the eastern portal ; perhaps the object of 
it has been to allow of the passage of the surface 
water from the station. 

The whole area of the camp is marked with the 
lines of streets and the ruins of buildings. The 
present farm-house occupies, according to Horsley, 
the site of the pretorium. On the east side of the 
southern gateway are the remains of a kiln for 
drying corn ; the stones are reddened by fire. Near 
the eastern gateway a building, furnished with a 
hypocaust, has been partially excavated. From its 
ruins a sculptured figure, draped, and in a sitting 
posture, has recently been taken. The head and 
other highly relieved parts were found to have been 
broken off: it remains on the ground. 

A large altar with an inscription, which is in a 
great measure illegible, lies within the walls of the 
camp. A stone broken 
in two pieces, and which 
is preserved on the spot, 
bears testimony to the 
presence of the sixth 
legion here ; it may be read, legio sexta victrix 
fidelis — -The Sixth legion the Victorious and Faith- 

2 o 




282 AMBOGLANNA. 

fill. The boldness of the lettering, and the depth and 
clearness of the cutting, give reason to suppose that 
the inscription is of early date. Besides these, several 
centurial stones, mill-stones, and coping-stones, as 
well as portions of tile, and fragments of pottery, are 
preserved in the farm-house, and yield to the visitor 
indubitable proofs of Roman occupation. In drain- 
ing the field to the west of the station, many small 
altars, without inscriptions, have been found, which 
were remorselessly broken, and used with other ma- 
terials for filling the drains. Strange, that altars 
before which Romans of ' fierce countenance' have 
bowed, should be put to such a use I 

Imperious Csesar, dead, and turned to clay, 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away : 
O, that the earth which kept the world in awe, 
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw ! 

On the east of the station are extensive and well- 
defined marks of suburban buildings. 

The accompanying lithograph is taken from the 
western side of the station. It well represents the 
chilly and somewhat forbidding aspect of this now 
nearly deserted place. 

Westward of Birdoswald, the Wall is in an un- 
usually good state of preservation. Taking into 
account, not only the height, but the length of the 
fragment, and the completeness of the facing- stones 
on both sides, it may be pronounced the finest speci- 
men of the great structure that now remains. 
Some portions of it, however, are beginning to exhib- 
it evident signs of decrepitude and decay. 



THE WORKS AT WALLBOURS. 283 

Within a short mile of the station, the remains of 
a castellum appear. Here the Vallum exhibits the 
unusual feature of a second ditch, as is represented 




in the subjoined section.? Hodgson says — 

Through a bog, about a mile west of Amboglanna, the 
Vallum has had two ditches, probably intended for draining 
the military road that ran between them. They are still very 
distinct. 

A careful examination of the spot induces me to 
think, that the additional fortification was intended 
to give increased security to a defile, which, running 
from the vicinity of the Wall to the bed of the Irthing 
below, renders the works in this part more than 
usually liable to attack from the south. 

At the western extremity of this extra ditch, 
the Wall and Vallum come into close proximity ; 
the space between them was, with the exception of 
room for the military way, occupied by the founda- 
tions of a castellum. The place bears the name of 
Wallbours. 

The Barrier next crosses a small hill called the Pike. 
The Vallum is a little below the summit of the emi- 
nence, on its southern side ; if this fortification had 
been formed irrespective of the Wall, it would 

9 The Wall is at too great a distance from the Vallum to be 
introduced into the section ; it is beyond the extra fosse, on the 
right hand side of the wood- cut. 



284 THE WALL AT HARE-HILL. 

doubtless have been drawn along the top of the 
height. The same remark applies to Hare-hill. 

The view from the Pike, of the flat and fertile 
vale below is truly magnificent. 

Soon after passing Banks-burn, we arrive at 
Hare-hill, where a portion of the Wall stands nine 
feet ten inches in height. This is the highest piece 
of the Wall that is anywhere to be met with ; but, 
owing to the smallness of the fragment, and to its 
being entirely deprived of facing-stones, it is less 
imposing than it would otherwise be. Hutton's en- 
thusiasm, however, never fails him ; his remark at 
Hare-hill is — 

I viewed this relick with admiration : I saw no part higher. 

At this point of our progress, the antiquary may 
be disposed to turn aside for a little, to view two 
relics of the mediaeval period of great interest — 
Lanercost Priory and Naworth Castle. The priory 
is a beautiful specimen of the early English style, 
and bears architectural evidence of having been 
built somewhere between the years 1155 and 1160. 
Besides the church, partially in ruins and partially 
in repair, the refectory and some portions of the mo- 
nastic buildings remain. The whole structure has 
been formed of stones taken from the Roman Wall. 
In addition to some altars preserved in the crypt of 
the church, several centurial and carved stones are 
to be seen in the walls of the adjacent buildings. 

Naworth Castle, though still an interesting building, 
is destitute of some of the attractions which it once 



NAWORTH CASTLE. 285 

possessed. The Roman altars and other primeval 
monuments collected by lord William Howard, have 
long been dispersed, and a fire in 1844, almost en- 
tirely destroyed the baronial residence of that re- 
no wnedborder-chief, which, until that event, remained 
nearly in the state in which it was in his own day. 
The dungeons, however, in which the daring moss- 
troopers were immured, remain, and two magni- 
ficent oak trees near the grand entrance still extend 
those brawny arms on which, according to tradition, 
lord William suspended the victims of his lawless 
power. The load of twenty gasping wretches would 
not materially weigh down the larger boughs of these 
fine trees. That the government of lord William — the 
Belted Will of Border tales — was of a vigorous 
character, there cannot be a doubt ; but that he used 
his power capriciously, cruelly, or tyrannically, there 
is no evidence. Lord William seems to have sent 
the most desperate of his prisoners to Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne or Carlisle. They would probably have 
as good a chance for life at Belted Will's tribunal 
as at the assizes of either of these towns, if we 
may judge of the state of feeling towards them from 
North's Life of Lord-keeper Guildford. His lord- 
ship, then sir Francis North, came to Newcastle, on 
the northern circuit, in 1676. His biographer says — 

The country is yet very sharp upon thieves ; and a violent 
suspicion, there, is next to conviction. When his lordship 
held the assizes at Newcastle, there was one Mungo Noble, 
supposed to be a great thief, brought to trial before his lord- 
ship, upon four several indictments ; and his lordship was so 



286 MONEY-HOLES. 

much a south -country judge as not to think any of them well 
proved. One was for stealing a horse of a person unknown, 
and the evidence amounted to no more than that a horse was 
seen feeding upon the heath near his shiel, and none could 
tell who was the owner of it. In short the man escaped, 
much to the regret of divers gentlemen, who thought he 
deserved to be hanged, and that was enough. While the 
judge at the trial discoursed of the evidence and its defects, 
a Scotch gentleman upon the bench, who was a border com- 
missioner, made a long neck towards the judge and said — ■ My 
laird, send him to huzz, and yes ne'er see him mair." 

On rejoining the Barrier, we find, that though 
the line of the Wall, in its course to the Eden, 
may yet be distinctly discerned, in very few in- 
stances any portion of the masonry remains. 

The site of a mile-castle nearly opposite Laner- 
cost Priory, is termed Money-holes, in consequence 
of the efforts made to discover some treasure sup- 
posed to be concealed in it. At Crag-hill the 
north ditch is very bold. At Hay ton-gate, a drove 
road, probably an ancient pass, crosses the line of 
the Wall from north to south. At Randilands the 
north fosse is still well developed. After crossing 
the rivulet, called Burtholme-beck, a piece of the 
Wall is seen, which stands about seven feet high . 
its facing-stones are gone, but the rough pebbly mor- 
tar possesses its original tenacity. As is often the 
case the ruin is tufted with hazel bushes and stunt- 
ed specimens of the alder and oak. The Vallum is 
about seventy yards to the south of the Wall. 

Approaching Low-wall,* something like an out- 

a In this locality, the traveller is apt to lose his reckoning, in 
consequence of the number of cottages and villages which are de- 
nominated < Wall.' 



WALTON. 287 

work appears on the north side of the Barrier. Has 
there been a double line of wall here ? After cross- 
ing a road, denominated Friar-wain-gate, which 
leads from Bewcastle to Lanercost, we reach another 
house called Wall ; Roman masons might claim 
many of the stones as theirs. At How-gill is a cot- 
tage, where probably a mile-castle stood to defend 
the ' beck.' In the modern structure may be ob- 
served stones broached in the Roman fashion, and 
others variously tooled by Roman hands. 

The farm-house of Dove-cote is on the eastern 
bank of the King-water. The fosse and the founda- 
tion of the Murus are seen crossing the hill on the 
northern side of the summit : the Vallum, which is 
indistinctly marked, probably took a corresponding 
position on the southern side. 

The village of Walton, by its very name, bears 
testimony to its relationship with the great Barrier- 
line. Many of the stones of the Wall may be de- 
tected in its cottages. One of its dwellings furnishes 
a good specimen of the mode of cottage-building 
formerly prevalent in the North. The rafters of the 
house, which consist of large and rudely-shaped 
pieces of timber, instead of resting upon the walls, 
come down to the ground ; they are tied together 
near the top by a transverse beam, and the mud 
walls, as well as the thatched roof, partially depend 
upon them for support. Horsley says, * at Wal- 
town there seems to have been some fortification or 
encampment. One side of the square is yet very 
visible, and the ramparts pretty large, about eighty 



288 PETRIANA. 

yards long. It is high ground and dry. Perhaps it 
has been a summer encampment or exploratory post 
for the garrison at Cambeck.' 

At Sandysike farm-house the foundation of the 
Wall as well as abundant traces of mural vicinage 
are to be seen. The barn consists of Roman stones 
marked with the diamond-broaching. Several 
sculptured stones are built up in the garden-wall ; 
amongst them is one which displays the thun- 
derbolt of Jove ; the wall-fruit peacefully rests upon 
it. Another, exhibiting the wheel of Nemesis, the 
emblem of swift justice, and which no doubt once 
formed part of an altar to Jupiter, is built into a pig- 
sty. A mill-stone of peculiar shape, and closely re- 
sembling one at Naworth Castle, is preserved on the 
grounds ; it is probably Roman. 

PETRIANA, the Cambeck-fort of Horsley, and 
the Castle-steads of the locality, is to the south of the 
Vallum and Wall. A deep scar separates it from 
the lines of the Barrier. The site of the station 
may be recognised, but it is long since its ramparts 
were overthrown, and the ruined buildings of the 
interior entirely obliterated. 

Its rich soil and sunny exposure recommended it 
to the father of the present proprietor of Walton- 
house as a fitting site for a garden, and such it is at 
the present day. It has yielded many altars and 
sculptured stones, some of which are still preserved 
upon the spot ; and from time to time the spade still 
reveals to the numismatist, treasures, over the loss of 



CAMBECK-FORT. 



289 



which, Romans in ancient days may have mourned, 
though not in a degree proportioned to their present 
value. Wood-cuts of three of the coins which have 
been found at Castlesteads are here introduced, as 
they commemorate the family of a man whose name 
is intimately connected with the Wall. They are in 
the cabinet of Robert Bell, esq., of Irthington. 

Julia, the second wife of Severus, 
and the mother of Caracalla and 
Geta. Severus, who was a be- 
liever in astrology, on the death of 
his first wife, looked out for an- 
other whose nativity was favourable to the ambitious views 
which he at that time entertained. He heard of a woman in 
Syria whose destiny it was to marry a king, and accordingly 
solicited and obtained in marriage Julia Domna. 

p$x Bassianus, commonly called 
■tfn\ Caracalla. He was created Caesar 





by his father, A.D. 196, when he 

Vy%^^§F \J&*ML ®Jj/ took the names of Marcus Aure- 
^■^ ^S£22&S Hug Antoninus In A D . 198. he 

was invested with the dignity of Augustus. Amongst his 
other titles, he bore the name of Britannicus, as is shewn 
on the coin. The engraver of the die from which this coin was 
struck, has probably given a correct likeness of his subject ; 
at least, he has represented an individual who appears capable 
of attempting an aged father's life, and of imbruing his hands 
in the blood of a brother. Vengeance at length overtook him. 

Geta, who, together with his 
brother Caracalla, accompanied 
his father to Britain. He was 
murdered by Caracalla A.D. 212. 

The finest of the altars, standing in the garden of 
Walton-house, is here engraved. The thunder- 

2 o 




290 



PETRIANA. 



bolt of Jupiter adorns one side of it, the wheel of 
Nemesis the other. The inscription has been read 




by Mr. Thomas Hodgson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
in the following way, after a careful and learned 
examination of it, and kindred inscriptions. 

I[OVl] OtPTIMO] M[AXIMO] 

C3H r ORS] SECVNDA TVNGR[ORVM] 

M[ILLIARIA] EQriTATA] ClIVIVM] L[ATINORVM] CVI 

PRAEEST ALB[VS] 

SEVERVS FR- 

AEF[ECTVSj TVNG[RORVM] IN- 

STA[NTEJ YICLTORE1 SEVRO 

PRINCIPI 



CAMBECK-FORT. 291 

To Jupiter, the best and greatest, 

The second cohort of the Tungrians, 

A milliary regiment, having a proportionate supply 

of horse, and consisting of citizens of Latium, 
Commanded by Albus 
Severus, pre- 
fect of the Tungrians, erects this ; 
The work being superintended by Victor Sevrus 

(or Severus), the princeps.* 

The Notitia places the ' Ala Petriana,' under a pre- 
fect, at Petriana. Although two inscriptions be- 
longing to this place mention the second cohort of 
the Tungri, none have been found here which name 
the Ala Petriana. It is possible that this cohort 
may have been a part of the Ala Petriana, but until 
this point be settled, or some further light thrown 
apon the subject, the occurrence of Cambeck-fort 
next in order to Amboglanna, must be regarded as the 

* Some antiquaries have conceited, that in the last two words 
of the inscription, a reference is made to the emperor Septimius 
Severus. This cannot be admitted, for — 1. The emperor's name 
would not he placed after that of the prefect : 2. The term instante 
implies the discharge of a subordinate duty ; for, not to mention 
other examples, the temple of which the Cilurnum slab records 
the restoration (p. 186^, was built by command of Marius Vale- 
rianus, under the superintendence of (instante) Septimius Nilus : 
3. That princeps was the designation of a subordinate officer in 
the army, appears not only from a collation of other inscriptions, 
but from the following statement of Manutius — * In a legion there 
were three kinds of foot soldiers, liastati, principes, and triarii, and in 
each there were ten centurions, who were called the first hastatus, 
the second hastatus, the third, and so on, up to the tenth ; the first 
princeps, the second, and so on ; but the triarii, the bravest of all, 
were named in a different manner, for they did not call thern first 
triarius, but primipilus, or primipili centurio.'— Arch. JEl., ii. 88. 

Princ.ipi is doubtless intended for the more usual form of the 
ablative, prin'cipe. 



292 



WRITTEN-ROCK OF GELT. 



best evidence of its being the Petri ana of the Notitia. 
Before crossing the Cambeck-water it may be well 
to remind the reader, that the river Gelt, on whose 
rocky banks the Roman quarrymen have left lettered 
memorials of their toil, is about four miles to the 
south of this place. With the view of clearly dis- 




playing the inscription, which has frequently been 
inaccurately engraved, the lithograph opposite to page 
81, has been drawn to a scale which precludes the 
possibility of shewing the height of the cliff. The 



PIGEON-CRAG. 293 

adjoining wood-cut partly supplies this deficiency ; 
it exhibits another inscription, not of a very in- 
telligible character, on the Pigeon-crag, which is a 
little higher up the water, and shews the general 
character of the scenery on this beautiful stream. 
The distance of these quarries on the Gelt, from the 
line of the Barrier, renders it very questionable 
whether large supplies were derived from them for 
the Wall. Hodgson remarks — 

The quarry at Helbeck-scar (the Written-rock) might serve 
for the largest stones for part of the Murus, and the stations 
at Brampton-old-church, and Walton-castlesteads ; for the 
general purpose of the Murus, stone, however, could be got in 
places much nearer than Helbeck-scar. 

At the quarries of High and Low Breaks, about a 
mile and a half north of the Wall, there are marks of 
extensive ancient workings ; the quarries are still in 
use and yield stone of good quality. 

The Written-rock will not be easily found by a 
stranger, but directions and assistance may generally 
be obtained from the workmen employed upon a 
modern quarry, which is not far from the spot. 

We now rejoin the Barrier. The passage of the 
Cambeck -water seems to have been guarded with 
some care. On the eastern margin of the stream, 
to the north of the Wall, is an earth-work raised a 
little above the general level of the surface, which 
here is somewhat depressed. Stones, which do not 
appear in the contiguous parts, lie scattered about 
the place. These circumstances seem to favour the 
idea of there having been some additional fortifica- 



294 HEADSWOOD. 

tion in this part. The western bank of the stream 
consists of a bold breastwork of red-sandstone, rising 
about fifty feet above the level of the water. The 
fosse of the Wall has been deeply cut into this rock ; 
it still remains in a state of great perfection. The 
old drove-road between Newcastle and Carlisle, 
which, for some distance west of this, runs upon the 
site of the Wall, or close by it, here avails itself 
of the fosse as a means of climbing the bank. The 
ditch of the Vallum is also discernible. The farm- 
house of Beck is partially constructed of Roman 
stones, and on the east side of the rivulet of Beck 
a few stones of the Wall are in their original situa- 
tion. Headswood, as its name implies, occupies a 
commanding position. The ditch of the Vallum is 
at this place peculiarly bold, and is about thirty-five 
yards distant from the Wall. The fosse of the Wall 
bends round an object which has the appearance 
of being an additional fortification outside the Wall. 
At the west end of Newtown-of-Irthington are the 
remains of a large mile-castle ; the stones still lie in 
confusion upon the site. The stone represented in 

the margin was found at 
this place. We next come 
to White-flat, where the 
rubble of the foundation of 
**^^=*^^ the Wall is very discern- 

ible and the ditch very deep. Hurtleton (the town 
of strife) is next reached; both lines of fosse are dis- 
tinct and in close contiguity. 
In the corner of a field, called Chapel-field, there are 




IRTHINGTON. 295 

evident signs of a mile-castle ; the plough, however, 
has been drawn over the site. The two works, 
which between White-flat and this point have ap- 
proached each other very closely, now quickly diverge, 
the Wall bending to the north. 

The village of Irthington is a little to the south of 
the Barrier. Here formerly stood one of the strong- 
holds of the powerful Norman family of De Vallibus; 
the building is now entirely removed, its site being 
occupied by the Nook, the residence of Robert Bell, 
esq. The foundations of some of its walls have re- 
cently been exposed. The keep probably occupied a 
lofty earthen mound which is now crowned with 
thriving trees. The parish church has recently 
been renewed with much skill and taste. The old 
fabric was entirely built of Roman wall-stones. 
In the course of its restoration, a striking proof of 
the disturbed state of the border district in the 
middle ages was disclosed; a number of skeletons, 
confusedly thrown together, being found buried with- 
in its area. The church, originally a Transition- 
Norman building, had evidently at some period after 
its erection, been contracted in its dimensions by 
the rejection of the side aisles. The outer walls 
consisted of the original columns of the aisles, filled 
up very roughly with common rubble. The col- 
umns bore decided marks of fire. The neighbouring 
parish church of Kirklinton, which has also been 
recently rebuilt, exhibited similar appearances. On 
taking down the old tower, which was a fortified 
stronghold, the bony remnants of upwards of sixty 
bodies were found in a space of not more than five 



296 BORDER STRIFE. 

yards square ; others were found in confused masses 
in other parts. The probable explanation of these cir- 
cumstances is this : — After the battle of Bannockburn, 
the Scottish forces, flushed with success, entered 
England, and the inhabitants, unable to withstand 
them, fled to the churches for protection. But neither 
the strength of the buildings nor their supposed 
sanctity could yield them effectual succour ; the 
miserable people were slain, and their bodies 
left among the smouldering ruins. Those of their 
countrymen who escaped, buried them in a hasty 
manner upon the spot. When the desolated dis- 
trict had recovered energy enough to repair the 
churches, its utmost efforts were barely sufficient 
to enclose those parts which had, by their solidity, 
withstood the fire ; and the reduced population re- 
quired nothing more. 

The coins of Edw. I. and IT. are comparatively abun- 
dant in this district, the armies of that monarch and 
his immediate successors, frequently taking the 
western route, in their marches to and from Scotland. 

Rejoining the Wall, we meet, when within a quar- 
ter of a mile of Old-wall, with the site of a mile- 
castle. The ruins of the building slightly raise it 
above the general level, and prevent the plough 
biting into it. The road formerly deviated from its 
track to go round it. An altar, an urn, and several 
coins of Edward I., have been found in it. In the 
buildings at Old-wall, many Roman stones will be 
noticed, and the earth-works of both lines of the 
Barrier may be traced. The Wall is entirely up- 



BLEATARN. 297 

rooted ; upwards of six hundred cart-loads of stones, 
within the recollection of the inhabitants, have been 
taken from it in this immediate vicinity. 

Between this point and Stanwix, the works may- 
be traced with tolerable satisfaction, an ancient 
drove-road running upon the site of the Wall for 
the greater part of the way. 

At Bleatarn (blue tarn or lake), on the south side 
of the Wall, is a mound of earth resembling an 
elongated barrow ; between this earth-work and the 
Wall, is a marshy hollow, which is said to have for- 
merly been the bed of a lake or tarn. The Vallum 
takes a sweep to avoid this morass, and at its great- 
est distance is removed from the Wall about two 
hundred and twenty yards. 

About half-a-mile south from Bleatarn, is the site of 
a Roman camp, which Horsley conceived to be one of 
the stations perlineam Valli ; it is now called Watch- 
cross. If it be a station of this class, arid if the order 
in which the stations are arranged in the Notitia 
exactly corresponds with their consecutive positions 
in reality, the name of it was Aballaba, which was 
garrisoned by a numerus or troop of Moors, under a 
prefect. There is, however, reason to doubt whether 
this was a stationary camp at all, as will presently 
appear. 

As already remarked, no inscribed stones have 
been found to identify any of the stations west of Am- 
boglanna with the list given in the Notitia. Even 
though this difficulty respecting Watch' cross had 
not occurred, to go on appropriating the names of 

2 p 



298 WATCH-CROSS. 

the Notitia, station after station, guided solely by 
the slender thread of the order of their succession, 
would be a hazardous undertaking, and is rendered 
still more so by the uncertainty existing as to those 
which are, and which are not, stationes per lineam 
Valli. In our journey from this point westward, 
the stations will, therefore, be designated by their 
modern names ; when the Latin names are added, it 
is to be understood that they are conjectural. 

WATCH-CROSS.— Horsley gives the following 
account of this station : — 

A little detached from the wall, to the south, is a Roman 
fort, of about four chains and an half square, called Watch- 
cross ; and as I was assured by the country people, and have 
had it since further confirmed, a military way has gone near it, or 
between it and the military way belonging to the Wall ; for 
they often plough up paving stones here, and think part of the 
highway to Brampton to be upon it. This is the least station 
on the line of the Wall, and is as usual, plundered of its stones, 
as that at Burgh and Drumburgh. However, the ramparts 
and ditches are very fair and visible. 

The common on which it stood having been en- 
closed about seventy years ago, and brought into 
cultivation, all traces of the camp have been obliter- 
ated. On a careful examination of its site, I failed 
to discover any fragments of Roman pottery, or 
other marks of Roman occupation. In those parts 
of Cumberland where the soil is not naturally stony, 
the site of a mile-castle or station, which has been 
brought into cultivation, may often be distinguished 
by the occurrence in that particular spot of numerous 
fragments of freestone. No such appearance here 



WATCH-CROSS. 299 

presents itself. The person who farms the ground 
says it is of better quality than the surrounding land; 
still, it does not seem to possess the peculiar fertility 
of a spot that has at any period for a length of time 
been the resort of a crowded population. Hutchinson 
describes 'the whole ground-plot' as being covered, 
in his day, ' with a low growth of heath ;' the sites 
of all the other cities of the Wall are too replete with 
animal remains to yield, even unaided by cultivation, 
so coarse a product. I am therefore strongly dis- 
posed to think, with Hodgson, that it was a mere sum- 
mer encampment. The spot has been well chosen ; 
for, though not greatly elevated, it has an extensive 
prospect Horsley himself had some doubts of 
the propriety of admitting it into the rank of a sta- 
tionary camp, * by reason of its being so small, 
and having no remains of stone walls.' The distance, 
however, between Cambeck-fort and Stanwix, which 
is rather greater than that between any other two 
stations, induced him to give it this position. 

From Bleatarn the antiquary will, with some care, 
be able to trace the Barrier by Wall-head, Walby, 
and Wall-foot, to Tarraby. From this village to 
Stanwix, a rural road runs upon the foundations of 
the Wall ; the ditch on its north side, which within 
living memory was very boldly marked, although 
partially filled up is yet distinctly traceable. 

STANWIX.— The church and church-yard of 
Stanwix occupy the site of the station which guarded 
the northern bank of the Eden. Recent explora- 
tions have displayed distinct remains of ancient 



300 STANWIX. 

edifices. In pulling down the old church, to make 
way for the present structure, a very fine figure of 
Victory, somewhat mutilated, was disclosed, which is 
now in the museum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The 
name of the place indicates, that whilst the dwell- 
ings in the vicinity were made of clay, as many of 
them are yet, by reason of the plunder of the Ro- 
man station, it could boast of being a town of stones. 
The situation is one of great beauty. To the east, at 
a considerable distance, the Nine-nicks of Thirlwall 
rear their rugged peaks ; and to the south and south- 
west, appear the beautiful grounds of Rickerby- 
house, the river Eden permeating a rich and well- 
cultivated country, the ancient city of Carlisle crown- 
ed with its venerable cathedral, and the long vista 
of country terminating in the Cumbrian mountains. 

Between the station and the north bank of the 
river Eden, the fosse of the Wall is distinctly 
marked, and a hollowed line, formed by the excava- 
tion of the foundation of the Wall itself, shews its 
track to the water's edge, near to the Hyssop-holme- 
well. We are told by Camden — 

That the Wall passed the river over against the castle — 
where in the very channel, the remains of it,namely, the great 
stones, appear to this day. 

That the Wall, on the other side of the river, 
clambered up that part of the castle-bank which pro- 
jects most boldly forward, is rendered probable by 
the appearance of masonry, resembling its founda- 
tions, beneath the grassy surface. At this point, how- 
ever, we lose all trace of the great structure until we 



CARLISLE. 301 

get beyond the boundaries of the famous Border city 
of the West. 

All antiquaries agree that Carlisle is the Lugu- 
vallium of the Romans. It is not improbable that 
it was one of Agricola's forts. It is not named in 
the list of the stations per lineam Valli given in the 
Notitia. The Notitia mentions only the forts having 
separate garrisons, and it is probable that after the 
erection of the camp at Stanwix, Luguvallium be- 
came subordinate to that camp, and had no distinct 
garrison, which will account for its omission. 

Whitaker says Luguvallium signifies, in the an- 
cient Celtic, the fort upon the Waters. 

Extensive remains of the ancient city lie beneath 
the modern Carlisle ; seldom is the ground pene- 
trated to any considerable depth without disclosing 
ancient masonry, Samian ware, and Roman coins. 

Carlisle contains two interesting structures of the 
mediaeval period — the castle and the cathedral. The 
keep of the castle is a good specimen of the Norman 
donjon, though some parts of it have been modern- 
ized. On the walls and door of one of its chambers? 
used as a prison in the ' Fifteen and the ' Forty-five/ 
are to be seen the coats of arms, the devices, and marks 
of the c sorrowful sighings,' of the unhappy rebels, who 
beguiled their wretched hours in carving them. The 
cathedral exhibits some interesting specimens of the 
Norman as well as later styles. Its east window, 
which is of the decorated period, is the finest in the 
kingdom, with the exception, perhaps, of the west 
window at York. 



302 



KIRK-ANDREWS. 



About a quarter of a mile beyond the canal basin, 
and nearly midway between the canal and the river, 
the track of the Wall may again be discerned. Owing 
to the difficulty of entirely uprooting it, its founda- 
tions have been suffered to remain ; they form a cart- 
road which is used for farm purposes. A little far- 
ther on, the plough has won the day, and a uniform 
green sward or luxuriant harvest baffles our research. 

A turf-covered mound on the east side of the 
church of Kirk-andrews, is occasioned by a portion 
of the ruins of the Wall. In the village is preserved 




the altar of which the wood-cut gives a repre- 
sentation. It was found at Kirk-steads, about a mile 
south of the Wall, and bears marks of having been 



KIRK-ANDREWS. 303 

cut down to suit the purpose of some comparatively 
modern builder. The focus of the altar is unusually- 
large ; the boldness of the lettering indicates an 
early date. It may be read — 

L[VCIVS] IVNIVS VIC- 
TORIA VS ET (?) 
ClAIVS] AELIANVS LEG[ATI] 
AUG[VSTALESj LEGllONIS] VI VIC[TRICIS] 
P[IJE] F[IDELIS] OB RES TRANS 
VALLVM PRO- 
SPERE GESTAS. 

Lucius Junius Vic- 
torinus, and 
Caius iElianus, Augustal legates 
Of the sixth legion, victorious, 
Pious, and faithful, on account of achievements beyond 
The Wall pros- 
perously performed. 

This is a vivid memorial of deeds of common oc- 
currence during the period of Roman occupation. 
The original possessors of the isthmus, driven from 
their homes, and forced to seek an asylum in the 
hills to the north of the Wall, would be accounted 
the lawful prey of the aggressor. 

The gates of mercy shall be all shut up ; 

And the fleshed soldier, — rough and hard of heart, — 

In liberty of bloody hand, shall range 

With conscience wide as hell ; mowing like grass 

Your fresh fair virgins and your flowering infants. 

Whilst the Roman warrior gloated over his suc- 
cess, and feasted, and thanked his gods, and recorded 
his exploits on the votive stone, the routed remnants 



304 BURGH-UPON-SANDS. 

of the Caledonian bands would mourn over their 
slaughtered comrades and desolated home-steads. 

The great scarcity of stone in the western part 
of Cumberland has rendered the Wall a valuable 
quarry to the inhabitants from time immemorial. In 
our future progress we shall see little of it, except 
in the buildings contiguous to its site. The heart 
of the antiquary will, however, occasionally be glad- 
dened by the recognition of the lines of the earth- 
works — their slightly elevated mounds appearing to 
his eager gaze scarcely less beautiful than the mould- 
ed forms produced by the genius of the sculptor, 
in districts more rich than this, in the remains of 
antiquity. 

The Vallum appears to have gone nearly due west, 
along the valley, from Kirk-andrews to Burgh ; the 
Wall proceeds, after its usual manner, from emi- 
nence to eminence. 

BURGH-UPON-SANDS is the next station. 
In Horsley's day the remains of its ramparts were 
to be seen at a place called the Old-castle, a little to 
the east of the church. He says — 

On the west side these remains are most distinct, being 
about six chains in length. And Severus's Wall seems to 
have formed the north rampart of the station. I was assured 
by the person to whom the field belonged, that stones were 
often ploughed up in it, and lime with the stones. Urns have 
also frequently been found here. I saw, besides an imper- 
fect inscription, two Roman altars lying at a door in the town, 
but neither sculptures nor inscriptions are now visible upon 

them If besides all this, we consider the distance from 

the last station at Stanwix, I think it can admit of no doubt 



BURGH-UPON-SANDS. 305 

but there must have been a station here, though most of its 
ramparts are now levelled, the field having been. in tillage 
many years. I shall only further add, that it was very proper 
to have a station at each end of the marsh, which, if the water 
flowed as high as some believe, would make a kind of bay. 

At present, little meets the eye of the inquirer, to 
inform him of the spot where the station stood, but 
when the surface of the ground is broken, the traces 
of a Roman city are still sufficiently distinct. The 
church-yard is filled with fragments of red sand- 
stone blocks. At the depth of two feet, it contains 
several distinct lines of foundations. Entire ' lach- 
rymatory' vessels and fragments of unglazedjars and 
urns have repeatedly been dug up. A small bronze 
figure was recently found. When the canal was cut, 
blocks of stone, blackened by smoke, were dug out 
of the soil to the south-east of the church. 

A few inscribed stones have been found since Hors- 
ley's day, but none of them name the cohort which was 
stationed in the camp. Hence we have no means of 
knowing whether Watch-cross has been rightly- 
thrown out of the list of ' stations along the line,' and 
whether Burgh is, as Horsley states it to be, the 
Axelodunum of the Notitia, or Congavata, accord- 
ing to the opinion of Hodgson. 

In the absence of more decided remains of the camp 
or Wall, an examination of the church of this long 
straggling town will reward the attention of the an- 
tiquary. It is a good specimen of the fortified Bor- 
der churches. It has served the threefold purpose 
of a church, a fortress, and a prison. 

2 Q 



306 king Edward's monument. 

In case of an inroad from the Scottish coast, the cattle ap- 
pear to have been shut up in the body of the church, and the 
inhabitants to have had recourse to the large embattled 
tower at its western end. The only entrance to this tower 
is from the inside of the church, and it is secured by a pon- 
derous iron door, fastening with two large bolts. The walls of 
the tower are seven feet thick. Its lowest apartment is a vaulted 
chamber, lighted by three arrow-slits. At the south angle is 
a spiral stone staircase, leading to two upper chambers. 

Many of the stones of which the church is built, 
are Roman, and exhibit reticulated tooling. 

Near to Burgh is the site on which the castle 
of sir Hugh de Morville, one of the murderers 
of Thomas a Becket, formerly stood. The ad- 
joining field is called — ' Hang-man-tree,' doubtless 
because my lord had his gallows here, always ready 
for use. A neighbouring enclosure bears a designa- 
tion not less ominous — ' Spill-blood-holm/ But the 
most interesting historical memorial which the 
neighbourhood of Burgh affords, is the monument to 
king Edward I., which stands on the marsh. 

Longshanks had marshalled his army : his numerous host 
lay encamped upon the sandy flat on the north of the town: 
the waters of the Sol way alone separated him from the objects 
of his vengeance. Here the mighty Edward was called to 
enter into conflict with an enemy whom he had often braved on 
the battle-field, but who was now to approach him by a new 
method of assault. In this struggle, his valour availed him 
nothing, his chivalrous hosts could yield him no aid, and no 
devoted Eleanor was there to abstract from his veins the subtle 
poison which the king of terrors had infused. On Burgh-marsh 
the ' ruthless king ' breathed his last. A monument, repre- 
sented in the vignette at the close of this part, marks the spot. 



TOWER OF REPENTANCE. 307 

Another structure, on the opposite side of the 
Firth, may be noticed by the traveller. The his- 
tory of the ' Tower of Repentance' is strikingly illus- 
trative of the disordered state of society in this 
district before the union of the two kingdoms. 

A chieftain from the northern side having made a success- 
ful inroad into the English border, was crossing the Solway 
on his return, laden with booty, when a sudden storm arose. 
In-order to lighten his labouring vessel, he threw his prisoners 
overboard in preference to the cattle which he had stolen. 
The danger past, he was smitten with remorse. In order to 
make such amends as he could, he built a beacon-tower which 
overlooks the Solway, and to this day is called the Tower of 
Repentance. Tradition avers that the penitent himself carried 
all the stones used in its erection to the top of the hill. It 
is not far from the town of Ecclefechan. 

In passing along the village of Burgh, the observ- 
ing visitor will notice the large number of boulder- 
stones, some of them half a ton in weight, which 
are strewed over the ground ; several of them have 
been used in forming the foundations of the cottages. 
They are of granite, and in some distant age have 
been wrenched from the summit of Criffel, the hill 
which lends so much beauty to the landscape on the 
northern side of the Solway. 

On the western side of the village of Dykesfield, 
which we next encounter, is a common that contains 
several earthen ramparts and temporary camps. 

Between Dykesfield and the next station, Drum- 
burgh, an extensive marsh occurs, which even now is 
occasionally overflowed by the waters of the Sol- 
way. Hodgson inclines to the belief, that the Wall 



308 EASTON-MARSH. 

ran directly across it. Horsley, however, took a 
different view of the subject. 

From hence to Drumburgh Castle no vestige of the Wall 
is to be seen ; though I think it certain that the Wall did 
not pass through the marsh, but by Boustead-hill and Easton, 
for both tradition and matter of fact favour this course of it. 
The country people often strike upon the Wall, and could tell 
exactly several places through which, by this means, they 
knew it had passed, and always by the side of the marsh. 
Besides it is no way reasonable to suppose that the Romans 
would build their Wall within tide-mark. 

After careful inquiry, I am disposed to adopt 
Horsley's view ; even now, stones which appear to be 
Wall-stones, are turned up by the operations of the 
husbandmen in the line which the Wall is supposed 
to have taken by Boustead and Easton. It need 
not be a subject of surprise, that the Wall in this 
district has been so thoroughly removed, as there 
is no quarry within a convenient distance, and the 
Wall, therefore, has been the source from which the 
inhabitants of the country have drawn their supply 
of building stones. The Romans seem to have gone 
to Howrigg quarry, which is not less than eight 
miles south of the Barrier, for their facing-stones ; 
those which they used for the interior of the Wall 
correspond in character with the proceeds of Stone- 
pot-scar, a quarry on the north shore of the Solway. 

We must now part company with the Vallum. 
This wonderful earth-work, which has outlived the 
accidents of seventeen centuries, and which we have 
traced, with bat few interruptions, from the modern 
representative of Pons JElii to this point, is not 



DRUMBURGH. 309 

observed going beyond it. As the Vallum falls 
short of the Wall at its eastern extremity by about 
four miles, so it does at its western. Horsley, who 
wrote more than a century ago, and who, conse- 
quently, had better opportunities of judging than 
we can now have, says — 

Whether Hadrian's work (the Vallum) has been continued 
any further than this marsh, or to the water -side beyond 
Drumburgh, is doubtful. But I am pretty confident that it 
was not carried on so far as the Wall of Severus at this end, 
any more than at the other. And T can by no means yield to 
Mr. Gordon's sentiments, that the one, for a good space at 
each end, was built upon the foundation of the other. How- 
ever, it is certain that from the side of the marsh to the west 
end of the Wall there is no appearance of Hadrian's work, or 
any thing belonging to it. 

DRUMBURGH contains distinct remains of a 
small stationary camp. This, if Watch-cross be re- 
jected, was the sixteenth station of the Wall, and 
consequently, the Axelodunum of the Notitia, which 
was garrisoned by the first cohort of the Spaniards. 
The camp is on the grounds of Richard Lawson, esq. 
The ramparts are well defined, as well as the ditch 
which surrounds them. The whole area is covered 
with a luxuriant sward, and its northern margin is 
shaded by some thriving ash-trees. No portion of 
the Wall remains in its vicinity, but its present pro- 
prietor remembers witnessing the removal of the 
foundation. The northern rampart of the station 
did not come up to the Wall, but was removed a 
few yards from it ; probably the military way ran 
between the station and the Wall. The station at 



310 DRUMBURGH. 

Barr-hill, on the Antonine Wall, is similarly situated. 

South of the station is a well, enclosed by a circu- 
cular wall of Roman masonry. It is still in use, 
though the water is drawn from it by a pump. 

The mediaeval castle, of which there are consider- 
able remains, is a very fine specimen of the ancient 
fortified manor-house. It is built of Roman stones. 
Extensive alterations were made upon it in the reign 
of Henry VIII. The habitable part of it is now 
occupied as a farm-house. 

The tranquillity of this region was not always what 
it now is. 

Standing on the northern rampart of the station, Mr. Law- 
son, the aged proprietor, directed the attention of the Pilgrim- 
party of 1849 to a small cottage on the opposite shore. 
1 There,' said he, 'lived a Scottish reaver, who in the days of my 
grandfather made, on nineteen successive Easter-eves, a 
successful foray on the English side. A twentieth time he 
prepared to^go; his family remonstrated, he however per- 
sisted, saying that this should be his last attempt. Our 
people were prepared for him and slew him.' Some of 
the party asked ' what notice did the law take of the transac- 
tion r • None ; the law which could not protect a man, would 
not punish him for taking the law into his own hands. 1 

Now, nearly arrived at the western extremity of 
the great Barrier, we meet with but few traces of its 
characteristic masonry ; enough, however, remains 
to lure us pleasantly to our journey's end. 

In cutting the canal from Carlisle to the Sol way 
Firth, in 1823, a prostrate forest of oak was disco- 
vered, which belonged to an age anterior to that of 
Hadrian. The engineer of the canal says — 



PRIMEVAL FCREST. 311 

A subterraneous forest was cut through in the excavation 
of the canal, near the banks of the Solway Firth, about half a 
mile north-west of the village of Grlasson, and extending into 
Kirklands. The trees were all prostrate, and they had fallen, 
with little deviation, in a northerly direction, or a little east- 
ward of it. — Some short trunks, of two or three feet in height, 
were in the position of their natural growth ; but although 
the trees, with the exception of their alburnum and all the 
branches, were perfectly sound, yet the extremity of the 
trunks, whether fallen or standing, were so rugged, that it was 
not discoverable whether the trees had been cut down, or had 
fallen by a violent storm. The level upon which the trunks 
lay, was a little below that of high tides, and from eight to 
ten feet below the surface of the ground they were embedded 
in ; which, excepting the superficial soil, is a soft blue clay, 

having the appearance of marine alluvion Although 

the precise period when this forest fell is not ascertainable, 
there is a positive proof that it must have been long prior to 
the building of the Wall because the foundations of the Wall 
passed obliquely over it, and lay three or four feet above the 
level of the trees. — Arch. ^EL ii. 117. 

The forest extends over a considerable tract of 
ground. It is probable that it Was overthrown by a 
tempest from the south or south-west, at a time 
when the sea occupied a lower level than it does at 
present. The wood was so sound, that it was used 
in common with other oak timber in forming the 
jetties at the outlet of the canal into the Solway 
Firth. The president's chair of the Society of An- 
tiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is formed of it. 

At Port-Carlisle is a mound resembling an ancient 
British barrow, called Fisher's-cross. About half- 
a-mile to the westward of it is another which has 
been somewhat encroached upon by the road that 



312 BOWNESS. 

runs along the margin of the Solway, and is deno- 
minated Knock's-cross. The proverb is common 
throughout Cumberland, ' As old as Knock's-cross.' 
In the frontof the Steam-packet hotel, Port-Carlisle, 
is built up the fragment of a small Roman altar, bear- 
ing the inscription, svis matribvs. It is one of the 
numerous instances that we meet with, along the line 
of the Wall, of altars dedicated to the Dece Matres. 

Between Port-Carlisle and Bowness, the site of 
the Wall may be traced nearly the whole way; not 
unfrequently the foundations of it and its fosse may 
be discerned. In one place some large stories re- 
sembling those used in forming the gateways of the 
mile-castles will be noticed. In Brand's day some 
considerable portions of the Wall remained, be- 
tween these points. He says— 

About three quarters of a mile to the east of Bowness, 
some fragments of Severus 1 Wall remain, of a great height ; 
on measuring one of them, we found it to be about eight feet 
high; it was bound and overgrown with ivy in a most 
picturesque manner. The facing-stones on both sides have 
been taken away. 

On my first visit to Bowness, I saw a portion of 
it as Hodgson describes it — 

It is six feet high. Its rugged and weathered core, still 
hard as a rock, is thickly bearded with sloe-thorn and hazel, 
and mantled below with ivy and honey-suckle. 

This interesting object has been entirely removed, 
which is the more to be regretted, as no advantage 
has been gained by its destruction ; it served as a 
fence between two fields. 



TERMINATION OF THE WALL. 313 

BOWNESS is the name of the low, bow-shaped 
ness, or peninsula, at the extreme point of the left 
bank of the Solway Firth. It is slightly elevated above 
the surrounding country, as is plainly seen when it 
is viewed from a distance. A little to the east of 
the site of the station, the Solway is easily fordable 
at low water ; but no one, in the memory of the in- 
habitants of these parts, has forded the estuary west- 
ward of the town. This circumstance would ren- 
der Bowness a fit place at which to terminate the 
Barrier Wall. With difficulty the antiquary detects 
some slight traces of the walls of the station, its 
southern lines near the church being those which 
are most apparent. No quarry being within several 
miles of the spot, the Wall and station have furnished 
the materials of which the church and most of the 
habitations of the town are composed. A small altar 
built up in the front of a barn in the principal street, 
has an inscription importing that it was dedicated to 
Jupiter the best and greatest, by Sulpicius Secun- 
dianus, the tribune of the cohort for the safety of our 
lords, the emperors Galbus and Volusianus. 

Bowness may be the Gabrosentum of the Notitia; 
Horsley reckoning Watch-cross among the stations of 
the line, conceives it to be Tunnocelum. 

Over that beautiful expanse of waters bounded by 
the Criffel and other Dumfriesshire hills, which we 
see from the somewhat elevated beach that has 
formed the northern margin of the station, the eye 
of the Roman sentinel must often have listlessly 
rolled, as he paced his tedious hours away. The 

2 R 



314 CHANGE OF TIMES. 

memory of Roman and Caledonian feuds gives to the 
picture, as we now behold it, a charm enhanced 
by contrast with the state of things which existed 
in ancient days. The hills have the aspect 
which they formerly bore, the waters of the 
Solway ebb and flow as they were wont, the same 
clear sky spans the vault of heaven which was out- 
stretched in Roman days ; — but then, the occupants 
of the opposite shores scowled upon each other with 
deadly hate, and planned the means of mutual 
slaughter. Stealthily they cast the net and threw 
the leister into the margin of the sea, or when they 
openly appeared upon the waters, it was in galleys 
armed for sanguinary aggression ; — now, with each 
returning tide, the fisherman plies his peaceful trade, 
fearless of harm, and the inhabitants of both the 
northern and the southern shore hail each other 
as friends and fellow-countrymen. 




Cf)e Ionian Barrier of fyt 



PART IV 



THE SUPPORTING STATIONS OF THE WALL. 



WE have now traversed the 
line of the mural Barrier 
from one extremity to 
the other, and 
examined all 
the camps that 
lie upon its 
track, we have 
met with but 
seventeen or 
eighteenofthe 
twenty - three 
that are men- 
tioned in the Notitia as stations per lineam Valli. 
According to Horsley, five remain to be accounted 
for, and according to Hodgson, who rejects Watch- 
cross, six. These must be sought for among the 



,: tiSBS^!Sk 



^SilTTMiViEIAN^lMop, 

[(2 S I A r ^^^^^^ WXvNNN 

[PoJTMC WIM WSVTVSTATD 

j/ESISNSSVAEflS^ECINSVo 

ip sOftNTC/f AUADV3TofRp^S 



09J1 



C.SPi*CE«. S" 



316 SECONDARY FORTS OF THE NOTITIA. 

stations which support the great Barrier on its north- 
ern or southern side. As the names of the camps 
north of the Wall have been ascertained by in- 
dependent authority, and as they do not correspond 
with those of the remaining stations of the Notitia, 
it is agreed on all hands, that the list is to be com- 
pleted from among the fortified places which sup- 
port the Barrier on the south. Without dwelling upon 
the reasons which have guided the conjectures, (for 
they are but conjectures at the best), of the great 
author of the Britannia Romana, and other antiqua- 
ries, in appropriating the remaining names supplied 
by the Notitia, it may be sufficient to say, that as the 
primary stations, so far as they have been ascer- 
tained, are found to be arranged in that document 
in regular consecutive order, beginning at the eastern 
extremity of the line, it is conceived to be highly 
probable that a similar course has been pur- 
sued with the secondary camps. If, therefore, we 
could correctly ascertain which, of all the camps that 
dot the country in the southern vicinage of the Wall, 
are mural stations, we might, with tolerable plausi- 
bility, bestow upon them in their order the remain- 
ing names of the Notitia roll. But this is a task 
of great difficulty, and considerable uncertainty must 
necessarily attend the appropriation of the names 
upon this principle. 

An examination of the forts themselves, however, 
on both sides of the Wall, is a task equally easy and 
instructive, and it is one which is essential to a cor- 
rect estimate of the strength of the principal fortifi- 



THE BARRIER NOT A NAKED WALL. 317 

cation — the Wall. Sir John Clark must have alto- 
gether overlooked the existence of these supporting 
stations, when he wrote in the following strain to 
his friend Gale : — 

After all, I cannot but take notice of two things with re- 
gard to the Wall, that have given me great matter of specu- 
lation. The first is, why it was made at all, for it could never 
be a proper defence, and perhaps at Bowness less than at any 
other place, since our barbarian forefathers on the north side 
could pass over at low water, and if the sea was higher or 
deeper than it is now, could make their attacks from the 
north-east side by land. — The second is, why the Scots histo- 
rians, vain enough by nature, have not taken more pains to 
describe the Wall, a performance which did their ancestors 
more honour than all the trifling stones put together which 
they have transmitted to us. It is true the Romans walled 
out humanity from us ; but it is as certain they thought the 
Caledonians a very formidable people, when they at so much 
labour and cost built this Wall ; as before they had made a 
Vallum between the Forth and the Clyde. 

The Romans did not oppose to the enemy a single 
line of fortification only, which, by some casual neg- 
ligence on their part, or a sudden exertion of des- 
perate bravery on the side of their antagonists, 
might in a moment be rendered useless. In ad- 
dition to the Wall, stationary camps were planted 
along its whole course, at a few miles distance from it, 
both to the north and the south ; so that, in reality, 
a triple line of fortresses was opposed to the passage 
of an enemy from either quarter. These subsidiary 
stations were connected with the garrisons on the 
Wall, and to some extent with each other, by good 
roads. In maintaining a surveillance over an enemy, 
whether to the north or the south of the chief mem- 



318 THE SUPPORTING FORTS OF DIFFERENT ERAS. 

ber of the fortification, in furnishing a secure retreat 
for the soldiery when venturing beyond their line, 
and in stemming the first shock of an onset, the im- 
portance of the out-stations cannot be over-rated. 

It is not contended that all the stations which are 
immediately on the north and south of the Wall were 
erected with the express view of supporting it. Sev- 
eral of them doubtless were, but others, there is 
reason to believe, were made by Agricola, before the 
Wall was projected or thought of. All that is neces- 
sary for us to admit is, that they contributed 
materially to the strength of the main structure, and 
as such, formed an important element in the calcu- 
lations of the engineer of the Wall. 

In taking a cursory survey of the supporting sta- 
tions of the line, it may be well, first, to examine 
those which defended its eastern extremity : next 
those which are upon Watling-street — the great 
channel of communication between the northern and 
southern sections of Britain on the east side of the 
summit level : afterwards, those which are on the 
Maiden-way — the road on the west of the summit 
level : and reserve to the last, the important stations 
which strengthened the works on the northern and 
southern shores of the Solway. 

TYNEMOUTH.— The Castle and Priory stand 
upon a peninsula so strong and so easily defended, 
that it could not have escaped the attention either of 
the aboriginal Britons or the Romans. The altar, 
which was erected bv the fourth cohort of the Lin- 




THE CAMP AT TYNEMOUTH. 319 

gones,has been already described (p. 109). Another 

lettered stone, found along 
with it, is here represented. 

GYRVM CVMBAS 
ET TEMPLVM 
FECIT C IV 
MAXIMINVa 
LEG VI VI 
EX VOTO 

About the reading of the first line of this inscrip- 
tion, which Brand translates, ' a circular harbour for 
the shipping/ there is some uncertainty ; but there is 
no doubt about the other lines, which import that — 

Caius Julius Maximinus, of the Sixth Legion, victorious, 
in the performance of a vow, erected this temple. 

The mere circumstance of its selection as the site 
of a temple, proves this to have been a place of some 
importance in the Roman age. The name of the builder 
of the temple fixes, with a near approach to pre- 
cision, the date of its dedication. Caius Julius Verus 
Maximinus was a Thracian shepherd of great per- 
sonal strength ; he attracted at an early period of his 
life the notice of Septimius Severus, and under 
Caracalla attained to the rank of centurion. On the 
assassination of Alexander Severus, in 235, he as- 
sumed the purple, and was himself assassinated in 
238. He probably accompanied Septimius Severus 
into Britain, and on this occasion erected the tem- 
ple commemorated by this inscription. The follow- 
ing amusing account of the personal qualifications of 
Maximinus, is given in Dr. William Smith's ad- 
mirable Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. 



320 MEDIEVAL REMAINS. 

His height exceeded eight feet, but his person was not 
ungraceful, for the size and muscular developeinent of his limbs 
were in proportion to his stature, the circumference of his 
thumb being equal to that of a woman's wrist, so that the 
bracelet of his wife served him for a ring. . . . The remark- 
able magnitude of his eyes communicated a bold and imposing 
expression to his features. He was able single-handed to 
drag a loaded wagon, could with his fist knock out the 
grinders, and with a kick break the leg of a horse ; while his 
appetite was such, that in a day he could eat forty pounds of 
meat, and drink an amphora of wine. At least such are the 
statements of the ancient writers. 

Nearly all traces of the camp at Tynemouth have 
been erased. Some years after the modern well 
near the entrance into the castle was sunk, another 
of wide diameter, and cased with masonry, was dis- 
covered, in consequence of the falling in of its cover- 
ing ; it is supposed to be Roman, but was again 
closed by order of the commander of the garrison, 
before it could be properly inspected. 

The mediaeval remains at Tynemouth are of great 
interest. The castellated gateway which formerly 
defended the approaches to the priory precincts has 
been sadly mutilated by tasteless renovators, but the 
ecclesiastical buildings, which have happily been 
left to the mercy of the elements, exhibit even in 
their ruins, much of their original beauty. The 
church -yard, affords a resting place to many who 
for years had been tossed upon the restless ocean, 
and to some who, venturing into the briny flood in 
search of health and pleasure, met with an untimely 
end. Friendly tomb-stones, speak of them; some 
names, however, are in danger of being forgotten. 



Slake-chesters. 321 

The murdered body of Oswin king of Deira, was 
deposited in the church-yard of this monastery. Here 
too, were buried Malcolm Canmore king of Scot- 
land — the friend of the Saxon— and his son, prince 
Edward, so named after his maternal ancestor the 
Confessor ; they Were both slain in the same fatal 
battle fought near Alnwick, A.D. 1094. Queen 
Margaret, through whom her present majesty, queen 
Victoria, derives her Saxon blood, survived the 
slaughter of her husband and son but a few days. 

BLAKE-CHESTERS, at the high end of North 
Shields, is the site of another camp. Waterville, the 
residence of George Rippon, esq., is within its 
bounds. Several carved stones, much worn by the 
weather, are on the ground, and many Roman build- 
ing-stones may be observed in the contiguous fences* 

These are not the only camps which were situated 
on the east coast north of the WalL Hodgson says — 

From the Wall northward, are numerous small 
square camps, strengthened with deep ditches, scat- 
tered over the country, as if they had been intended 
for rural purposes/ A line of them may still be 

* An earthen encampment is cut in two by the Newcastle and 
Berwick railway, in the second field south of the Netherton 
station. In the space of three fields, lying east of this camp, 
three others may be distinctly discerned, varying in size from forty 
to seventy yards square. At Dove-cote, which is less than a mile 
west of Netherton station, is a large field covered with the ruins of 
stone buildings. Excavations in one portion at least of the ground 
yield large quantities of glazed pottery. The remains are ap- 
parently mediaeval, but it is remarkable that no record of ruins so 
extensive is known to exist. 

2 s 



322 FORT AT SOUTH SHIELDS. 

traced through the parishes of Long-Benton, past 
Cramlington, into the Plessy grounds. 

There is every probability that the site of Mor- 
peth castle was fortified by the Romans. Some por- 
tions of the curtain-wall still standing have been pro- 
nounced by competent judges to be of Roman masonry. 

SHIELDS LA WE.— The southern shore of the 
estuary of the Tyne was as well protected as the north- 
ern. A camp, comprehending several acres, stood 
upon the slightly elevated headland at South Shields 
called the Lawe. The excellence of the situation, as a 
post of observation, is proved by the acts of the 
pilots who have planted a beacon and erected many of 
their residences upon it. In 1798, the foundations of 
many old walls, which obstructed the plough, were 
removed. The lowest course of some of them con- 
sisted < of rough whinstone, evidently brought from 
the shore, as the barnacles were still adhering to 
them/ The remains of a hypocaust were discovered 
at the same time. Several coins were also found, 
and as some of them were of the reign of Valentinian 
(A.D. 380), it may be presumed that the station was 
in use only a short time before the desertion of 
Britain by the Romans. An altar, despoiled of 
its inscription, which was found in this station, 
is preserved in the library at Durham. 

The ancient military-way called the Wrecken- 
dike terminated at this station. Until a recent period, 
one branch of it could be traced by Lay-gate, the 
Dean-bridge, and J arrow- slake, to Gateshead-fell. 
It also led to Lanchester, Binchester, and the South. 



STATION AT JARROW. 



323 



JARROW. — At nearly the same distance from 
the camp on the Lawe, on the south side of the river, 
as Blake-chesters is from Tynemouth, on the north, 
the site of another Roman fort occurs. Hodgson, 
who first drew attention to it, says — 

At Jarrow, an oblong square of about three acres, with its 
corners rounded off, overlooking the estuary of Jarrow-slake, 
and fronting on the south the bank of the navigable stream 
called the Don, is, on good grounds, supposed to have been the 
site of a station or fortified town of the Romans. Under-ground 
foundations of a wall of strong masonry mark out its area on 
every side, and include within them the site of the present 
church and church-yard, and some ragged remains of the an- 
cient monastery of Jarrow. In digging up part of the re- 
mains of these walls in 1812, a silver denarius of Aulua 
Vitellius was found embedded in mortar in the heart of the 
wall ; and when the road was formed past Jarrow-row, in 
1803, two square pavements of Roman brick were discovered. 

Two inscribed stones have 
been found here which give 
strength to the opinion that 
Jarrow was a Roman station. 
One of them, now at Somer- 
set-house, is shewn in the 
wood-cut. As Brand ob- 
serves, it is interesting as containing the name of 
our island at length. It has been read — 

DIFFVSIS PROVINC/JS IN BRITANNIA AD VTRVMQVE 
OCEANVM EXERCITVS FECIT. — 

The army erected this, on the extension of the Roman 
dominion in Britain, from the western to the eastern sea. 

The other stone has formed part of an altar erected 

in honour of the adopted sons of Hadrian. 




324 WARDLEY. 

The church of Jarrow is a simple building, but it 
contains some undoubted Saxon work. Within the 
walls of the ancient monastery, some portions of 
which exist, the venerable Bede passed his useful 
and unostentatious life. Of him, Surtees, the His- 
torian of Durham, observes — 

The lamp of learning, trimmed by the hand of a single 
monastic who never passed the limits of his Northumbrian 
province, irradiated from the cell of Jarrow, the Saxon realm 
of England with a clear and steady light ; and when Bede 
died, history reversed her torch, and quenched it in deep night. 

This venerable man died, A.D., 735, in the act of 
completing a translation into Anglo-Saxon of the 
Gospel of St. John. His name would have been 
worthy of all reverence, even had he done nothing 
more than give to his countrymen the Scriptures in 
their vernacular tongue. It must however be con- 
fessed that ' he fell on evil times/ and that his works 
embody many of the errors and superstitions of the 
period. 

WARDLEY. — An ancient entrenchment con- 
taining an area of upwards of six acres, may yet be 
observed at Wardley, in the parish of Jarrow, nearly 
opposite to Wallsend. Hodgson, who resided for 
several years in this neighbourhood, was not able to 
learn that any Roman antiquities were ever found in 
it. He was disposed, however, to think that it be- 
longed to the Roman era. It may have been a sum- 
mer encampment of the garrison at Wallsend, and 
as such, would contribute not a little to their comfort, 
and the defence of the river, 



HIGH-ROCHESTER. 325 

Wardley, there is some reason to suppose, is the 
Wredelau of the chroniclers, where the body of 
St. Cuthbert became immoveable, and where the 
wandering monastics received the revelation which 
directed them to Durham. 

Such were the strongholds by which the garrisons 
on the eastern extremity of the Wall were assisted 
in maintaining their ground against the foe. 

Watling-street, running north and south, crossed 
the Wall at about twenty miles from its termin- 
ation at Wallsend. The modern turnpike-road 
between Corbridge and West-Woodburn adheres 
very closely to its track, and occasionally the ancient 
ditches protecting it on both sides are to be seen. 
Its stations were probably planted by Agricola, but 
were not on that account less useful to the soldiers of 
the Barrier. Our examination of them must be brief. 

CHEW-GREEN.— Here, close upon the Scottish 
border, is an extensive Roman camp ; investigation 
is necessary to decide whether it was of a temporary 
or permanent character ; it is probably only an 
earthen entrenchment. 

BREMENIUM, or High Rochester, is a station 
of considerable interest. It stands upon Watling- 
street, at about twenty two miles north of the Wall. 
Between Rochester and Chew-green the pavement of 
the Roman road may be distinctly traced for many 
miles together. The site on which the station stands 
is high and much exposed; but, in a military point of 
view, it is very strong. On all sides the ground slopes 



326 BREMENIUM. 

from it, but on the north it sinks so rapidly, as to give 
it the protection of a bold breastwork. The walls 
of the station are stronger than those of the forts 
on the line of the Wall ; they are not only thicker, 
but are composed of larger stones. A moat has 
surrounded the camp ; on the east side, which is by 
nature the weakest, two ditches have been formed, 
which there is reason to believe were supplied with 
water. All the gateways may be traced with con- 
siderable distinctness ; the southern one has suffered 
least from depredation. The interior of the station 
is filled with the ruins of buildings ; some of them 
would well repay examination. Of the modern struc- 
tures which have been raised within its area, two are 
peel-houses or fortified dwellings of considerable 
strength. The suburban buildings of the station have 
been situated on the west side, where their founda- 
tions still appear. Here they would be protected by 
the valley along which, at about a quarter of a mile's 
distance, the Sills-burn runs. The stones of the 
ramparts are strongly marked by the diamond 
broaching. The station contains an area of four 
acres and three roods. 

At about half-a-mile distant from the station, in a 
south-east direction, there have recently been dis- 
covered the foundations of some Roman cippi or 
funeral monuments. They are close by the road, 
and as was usually the case, on the south side of 
it. Three of them are square, the fourth, which is 
the largest, is circular. The masonry of all of them 
is remarkably fresh. The circular tomb has two 



HIGH-ROCHESTER. 327 

courses of stones standing, besides the flat stones 
which form the foundation. On clearing out the in- 
terior, a jar of unburnt clay was found ; it had no 
bones in it. The natural soil was found to have 
been acted upon by fire to the depth of more than a 
foot. Mixed with the rubbish was a quantity of 
white ashes. A coin of Alexander Severus was 
found within the area, a circumstance which strength- 
ens the presumption that the station was occupied 
by the Romans until a late period. 

There are several temporary camps in this neigh- 
bourhood. Persons well acquainted with the country, 
and who have noticed the peculiar structure of 
Roman roads, give it as their opinion that a Roman 
way has proceeded eastwards from Rochester by 
Yatesfield, Potls-Durtrees, Yardhope, Holystone, 
and Glanton, in a direction which renders it proba- 
ble that it joined that branch of Watling-street 
which traversed the eastern side of Northumberland, 
and is often inelegantly termed the Devil's-causeway. 

Some distance south of the station, and near to 
the point at which Watling-street crosses the modern 
high-way, (in front of Redesdale cottage) the remains 
of an ancient lime-kiln were recently found. It was 
situated on the slope of a rocky hill, and had been 
formed partly by the excavation of the natural rock, 
and partly by regular courses of masonry. In order 
to take advantage of the form of the ground, the mouth 
for drawing out the lime was placed in front. The 
stones were much reddened by the action of fire, and 
portions of lime were adhering to them. There is 



328 THE ITINERARY OF ANTONINE. 

excellent limestone near the kiln, and several beds 
of coal are in the vicinity. Several heaps of rubbish, 
on the line of Watling-street, where the coal crops 
out, render it probable that this mineral was wrought 
by the Romans. 

In ascertaining the Roman names of the stations 
on the line of the Wall, reference has hitherto been 
made only to the Notitia Imperii. Another doc- 
ument has come down to our time, of which we 
may now avail ourselves — the Itinerary of Antonine. 
It does not mention any of the stations immediately 
upon the Wall, but names some to the north and 
and south of it. It is a sort of road-book of the 
whole Roman empire, and is supposed to have 
been made by one of the emperors who bore the 
name of Antoninus. Horsley thinks that Caracalla 
is best entitled to be accounted its author. That 
part of it which relates to Britain contains fifteen 
routes ; the towns upon each are named, and the 
distances from one to another given in Roman 
miles. The aid which such a document gives in 
ascertaining the ancient designations of the stations 
that occur in it is obvious. The first * Iter' is 
entitled l A Route from the Limit, that is, from the 
Wall, to PrjEtorium, 156 miles.' It begins thus — 

From Bremenium to Corstopitum . xx miles. 

To VlNDOMORA IX „ 

To VlNOVIA XIX „ 

The second ' Iter' also begins at the Wall, and 
goes to the Ritupian-port, Richborough, 481 miles 



HIGH ROCHESTER. 329 

The first portion only, of it also, bears upon our pre- 
sent investigation. 
From Blatum Bulgium to Castra Exploratorum . xn miles. 

To LuGUVALLIUM XII „ 

To VoREDA XIV „ 

The tenth ' Iter/ which is from Glanoventa to 
Mediolanum, 150 miles, begins with towns which 
are supposed to be in the vicinity of the Wall. 

From Glanoventa to Gtalava . . xvm miles. 
To Alione (or Alionis) ... xn „ 

That Rochester is the Bremenium of the first 
route, is established by the discovery of an altar in 
it, which professes to be erected by the duplares of 
the exploratory troops stationed at Bremenium. 
In no position would exploratory troops be more 
needed than here, and no place could be more ap- 
propriately fixed upon as the starting point of an 
' Iter' than this. Several of the inscriptions belonging 
to this station bear the name of Caracalla. Both 
Bremenium and Habitancum seem to have under- 
gone important repairs in the time of this emperor. 

Eight miles south of High Rochester, and on the 
line of Watling-street, is another Roman station. 

HABITANCUM is the name which Camden, 
and Horsley, on the authority of a stone found near 
the station, and which was inspected by them both, 
agree in bestowing upon the modern Risingham. 

The position of Habitancum will strike a stranger 
with surprise. Instead of occupying an eminence, 

2 T 



330 HABITANCUM. 

it is placed in a valley, and close upon the banks of 
the Rede. Hills environ it, though not very closely, 
on every side. They who, in early spring, have 
been exposed on the neighbouring heights to the 
sleety shower, will know the reason of the selection. 
The climate of Risingham is peculiarly mild. The 
west wind blows with the steadiness of a trade wind, 
and the harsh east seldom descends into this favoured 
valley. The village of Woodburn is on the opposite 
side of the river. The lines in ' Rokeby' well character- 
ize the spot, though its wood is fast disappearing — 

Where Rede upon his margin sees 
Sweet Woodburn^s cottages and trees. 

Notwithstanding the secluded nature of the situa- 
tion, it is not destitute of military strength. The 
Rede defends it on the north, which was the point of 
greatest danger ; and, excepting on the south, where 
an out-post seems to have been maintained, an enemy 
could be descried long before approaching the camp. 

The walls of the station have been constructed of 
the same strong masonry as those of Bremenium. 
Owing to the excellence of the stone, the marks of 
the tool upon them are peculiarly distinct. In the 
hill behind the station, called the Bell-knowe, the 
ancient quarrymen have left numerous wedge-holes 
and other indications of their labours. Although a 
fosse usually surrounded the ramparts of a station, 
and although sir Walter Scott has sung of — 

The moated mound of Risingham, 

Risingham does not appear to have been defended in 



RISINGHAM. 331 

this way. In company with the owner of the pro- 
perty, who had a little before thorough-drained the 
ground bordering on the south and east sides of 
the camp, I sought in vain for any traces of a 
fosse. The ruins of the interior would yield a 
rich harvest to the careful explorer. Recent ex- 
cavations have revealed some chambers of great in- 
terest; but, with the exception of those near the 
south-east corner, they have been removed as soon 
as displayed. Some of the buildings were evident 
restorations of prior structures : a circumstance 
which confirms the conclusion deduced from other 
considerations, that the station was long occupied by 
the Romans. After being deserted, a portion of its 
north rampart has been carried away by the river. 
Until recently, the remains of the bridge by which 
Watling- street crossed the Rede, on the west side 
of the station, were distinctly visible. The soil which 
covers the camp is peculiarly rich, being replete with 
animal matter. Many important antiquarian trea- 
sures have been procured from this spot. The large 
slab, six feet long, which forms the ground-work of 
the initial letter at the beginning of this part, was 
found among the ruins of the south gateway. The 
inscription mentions the restoration of the gate with 
the walls of the station (portam cum muris vetus- 
tate dilapsis). The upper part, which is lost, pro- 
bably contained the name of Severus ; in what re- 
mains, some of the titles of Caracalla appear. Geta's 
name seems to have been erased. The stone is now 
at Newcastle. Another very fine slab found at this 



332 CORSTOPITUM. 

station, is at Cambridge. Some of the altars dis- 
covered here will be described in the last part. 

Horsley is naturally surprised that Habitancum is 
not named in the Antonine Itinerary. One conjec- 
ture in which he indulges, in order to account for 
this is, ' that the station might be neglected before 
the reign of Caracalla,' which is proved to be un- 
founded by the slab already referred to, and by the 
discovery last year of some large fragments of in- 
scriptions, mentioning that emperor by his title 
Adiabenicus. A second supposition which he enter- 
tains may be the correct one. He says — 

Possibly Risingham might be looked on as too near to 
Rochester, to make it another mansion in this route. And 
though two places are sometimes set down in the same iter, 
which are at no greater distance, yet other circumstances 
might render this proper at one place, and not so at another. 

It is not improbable that the two stations may have 
been under one command. The exposed situation 
of Bremenium would render it highly desirable 
that the exploratores, after having battled for a season 
with the elements and the Caledonians, should 
be allowed a period of comparative relief in some 
more sheltered spot, such as Habitancum. 

CORSTOPITUM is the next place that occurs in 
this ' iter/ in which it is set down as being twenty 
miles from Bremenium. At the distance of about 
twenty-three English miles from the camp of High 
Rochester, and on the line of Watling-street, are now 
to be found the remains of the station of Corchester. 



CORCHESTER. 333 

This, which is a little to the west of the town of Cor- 
bridge, is doubtless the ancient Corstopitum. The 
station, which is now entirely levelled, and can with 
difficulty be traced, has stood upon a gently swelling 
knoll on the north bank of the Tyne. A bridge, the 
foundations of which the floods of seventeen centuries 
have spared, connected it with the opposite bank of the 
river ; the remains of this bridge are precisely similar 
in appearance to those on the North Tyne at Cilur- 
num. The bridge has crossed the river obliquely, a 
circumstance which corroborates the opinion for- 
merly expressed, that the bridges in these parts 
consisted of horizontal roadways, supported upon 
piers — unless, indeed, we suppose that the Romans 
were acquainted with the construction of the skew- 
arch. Hutchinson states, that a ( military way passes 
from this place south-west through Dilston Park, 
over Hexham Fell to Old Town in Allendale, and 
meets with the Maiden-way at Whitley Castle.' 
Abundance of medals, inscriptions, and other Roman 
antiquities, have been found at Corchester. Pieces of 
Roman bricks and pots are spread over the surface 
of the ground. The church at Corbridge has been 
raised at the expense of the station. Horsley con- 
ceives that this fort was abandoned before the com- 
pilation of the Notitia, as it is not mentioned in that 
document. It is about two miles south of the Wall. 
The large altar which is figured in the initial 
letter at the beginning of this volume, formed, 
in Horsley's days, the shaft of the market-cross 
at Corbridge. It is now on the stairs of the en- 



334 CORBRIDGE LANX. 

trance-tower, at the castle of Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne. The inscription is defaced, but the carv- 
ing on both sides remains ; on the one side is a 
soldier, armed — the representative probably of war ; 
on the other is a warrior, having laid aside his weapons, 
dragging an amphora of wine — a picture, emblematic 
of peace. The singular use made of this heathen 
relic suggests the insertion here of the story of the 
' Fairy stone,' as it is still told in this neighbourhood. 

A Roman altar in the vicinity of Bywell was, during the 
* troublesome times' 1 of 1715, put to a use little contemplated 
either by the ancients or moderns. It was employed as the 
post-office of the non-juring gentry of the district. The 
parties, wishing to keep up a correspondence with each 
other, arranged to deposit their communications in a 
hollow of the altar. In the gray of the morning little girls 
clad in green, and trained to the task, approached the stone 
with a dancing step, and, having got the letters, retired with 
antic gestures. So well did they perform their part that they 
were mistaken for fairies, and the object of their visits was not 
discovered for a long time afterwards. The stone was known 
by the name of the Fairy stone. 

But the greatest curiosity which has been discov- 
ered at Corstopitum, is the silver lanx,ov dish, which 
is represented on the next page. A piece of plate 
so massive, is of rare occurrence in the stations of 
the North. It is in the possession of the duke of 
Northumberland. There is an accurate cast of it in 
the Newcastle Museum of Antiquities. 

e It was found (says Mr. Robert Cay, in a letter of 4th March 
1734) near Corbridge, by some ignorant poor people who 
have cut off the feet in such a vile barbarous manner, that 
they have broke two holes through the table, and a small 



CORBRIDGE LANX. 337 

piece off one of the corners too.' It is 19J inches long, and 
15 broad ; it weighs about 150 ounces. The rim of the plate 
rises nearly an inch above the interior. The figures have been 
punched into form. Gale's conjecture as to its use is proba- 
bly the correct one. c This is big enough (he says) to contain 
the exta of a sheep, or other small victims, which seems to me 
to be the likeliest employment for it, and that it was one of 
these sacrificing utensils that Virgil calls Lances : 

Lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta/ 

The principal figures on the plate are probably, those of Diana, 
Minerva, Juno, Vesta, and Apollo. 

On the left side of the design is Diana, armed with a bow 
and arrow. Below her feet is an urn with water flowing from 
it ; in front of her, is an altar with an offering, of a globular 
form, upon it, and below the altar, is a dog of the greyhound 
species, looking up to the goddess. 

The next figure is Minerva. She wears a helmet, and her 
breast is adorned with the Gorgon's head. A spear is in her 
left hand. The thumb and first two fingers of her right hand 
are uplifted, as if in the act of bestowing a benediction. 

The next figure is supposed to be Juno, though no symbol 
is given by which she can be decisively distinguished. Her 
right hand is uplifted in a manner similar to Minerva's. At 
her feet lies a dead buck. 

Vesta succeeds. She is seated; part of her peplus or man- 
tle is drawn over her head ; the two fore-fingers, of her left 
hand, which is apparently resting upon her bosom, are up- 
raised. Beneath the goddess is an altar with the fire 
burning. 

On the right of the piece is Apollo, standing under a can- 
opy. His bow is in his left hand, a flower in his right. His 
lyre is on the ground by his side, and a griffin is below him. 

An eagle and some other birds are among the branches of 
the tree in the upper part of the piece. 

Under the whole representation some recondite meaning is 
probably concealed, which can only be a subject of conjecture. 
(See Hodgson's Northumberland, II. iii. 24:6.) 

2u 



338 



GREEK ALTAR 



Two important altars, with Greek inscriptions 
have been found at Corbridge. One is dedicated to 
the Tyrian Hercules ; the 
other, which is represented 
in the adjoining wood-cut, 
to Astarte, the Ashtaroth 
of the Scriptures. 



A2TAPTH2 
BHMON M 1 
E20PAS 
nOTAXEP M 1 
ANE0HKEN 



Of Astarte, 

The altar 

You see, 

Pulcher 

replaced. 




Josephus tells us, that 
Hiram king of Tyre, built 
two temples, which he ded- 
icated to these deities. 
The Israelites, in forsak- 
ing the living God, not 
unfrequently betook them- 
selves to the abominations of the Sidonians. 

With these in troop 

Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians calFd 
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns ; 
To whose bright image nightly by the moon 
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs, 
In Sion also not unsung, 

It is deeply and painfully interesting to dig up in 
our British soil decided traces of this gross idolatry.* 

i Hutchinson savs (A.D. 1778), the altar to Hercules is in 
the possession of the duke of Northumberland ; it is not now 
among those preserved at Alnwick-castle. The altar to Astarte is 
in the collection at Netherby. 



HEXHAM CRYPT. 



339 



HEXHAM is generally admitted by antiquaries 
to have been a Roman town, though the proof of it 
is not absolutely decisive. St. Wilfrid built a church 
and monastery here about the year 673, after the Ro- 
man manner, which was considered the wonder of the 
age. We are told by the historians of that period that 
' secret cells and subterranean oratories were laid with 
wondrous industry beneath' the building. Some vaults 

still remaining 
probably form, 
ed the crypt 
of this ancient 
structure. The 
stones which 
compose this 
under -ground 
building are all 
Roman; the pe- 
culiar mode in 
which they are 
chiselled is ex- 
hibited in the 
annexed wood 
cut, represent- 
ing one of its 
chambers. The walls exhibit several Roman mould- 
ings and cornices, besides inscriptions."* It is not 




m The last time I was in the crypt, I was impressed with the idea 
that some portions of it were actually of Roman workmanship ; 
if so, St. Wilfrid has adapted to his own uses the vaults which he 
found on the spot. The crypt at Ripon, to which this bears a 
marked resemblance, is now understood to be Roman. 



340 



INSCRIPTION TO SEVERUS. 




yras^ 




IIS! 




likely that these stones would be brought from Cor- 
bridge (the nearest Roman station, if Hexham be 
not one), which is on the other side of the river, and 
three miles distant ; especially as there is abundance 

of stone in the im- 
mediate neigh- 
bourhood. The 
most important 
of the inscribed 
slabs which are 
walled up in the 
crypt, is here ex- 
hibited ; it is one 
of the inscrip- 
tions bearing the 
names of the emperor Septimius Severus (who 
added to his own name that of his predecessor, Per- 
tinax), of his eldest son, Caracalla, who styled him- 
self Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius, and of Geta, 
his younger son, whose name and title have obvi- 
ously been erased from the tablet, an operation which 
we find has been studiously performed on many 
similar inscriptions, doubtless after his murder by 
his unnatural brother Caracalla. The date of this 
inscription is marked by the union of Severus and 
his two sons in the imperial title. Its object does 
not appear from what remains of the stone, further 
than that it recorded some act done by a vexillation 
of some portion of the Roman forces. 

The mediaeval antiquities of Hexham are highly in- 
teresting. The gateways and embattled towers will 



EBCHESTER. 



341 



repay examination ; but the gem of this fine old town, 
which in the Saxon era was an episcopal see, is the 
Abbey-church. The choir and transepts alone remain ; 
they exhibit much beauty of detail, and their several 
parts blend most harmoniously together. The church 
formerly possessed the right of sanctuary. The frid- 
stool is still in its place. The cross which marked 
the eastern boundary of the privileged territory is 
nearly entire, and is kept near its original site, in the 
yard of the poor-house. The disjecta membra of that 
which marked the northern boundary of the sanctuary 
lie by the side of the road going over Cross - 
bank, a hill between two and three miles north 
of Hexham, and from which the traveller approach- 
ing the town from the north first obtains a view 
of the venerable abbey-church, and surrounding 
town. The prospect is now, to the peaceful anti- 
quary, guiltless of his neighbour's blood, singularly 
interesting — what must it have been when descried 
in ancient times by panting fugitives, pressed by an 
avenging hand, and fleeing to the sanctuary ! This 
cross remains a monument of the disordered state 
of society in the middle ages, and leads the reflecting 
passenger to contrast his present tranquility with 
the insecurity of former times. No favoured spot is 
now necessary to shield the innocent from the rage 
of a stronger assailant, or will be allowed to stay the 
course of justice upon the guilty. 

EBCHESTER, situated upon the line of Watling- 
street, is, as its name indicates, a Roman station. 
Surtees thus describes it : — 



342 LANCHESTER. 

Ebchester stands at the foot of a long descent, yet on the 
edge of a still steeper declivity. Its cottages and trees are 
scattered along a lofty brow overhanging the green haugh- 
lands of the Derwent. On the very edge of the steep, the val- 
lum of a Roman station is still extremely distinct, and the 
little chapel of Ebchester, a farmhold, and a few thatched 
cottages, stand within the very area of the ancient Vindo- 
mora — if Vindomora it be, for the point is by no means 
stated as beyond controversy. 

LANCHESTER is, on the authority of the itiner- 
ary of Richard of Cirencester, conceived to be the 
Epeiacum of the Romans. Though several miles 
removed from the Wall, its position upon Watling- 
street would render it useful as a supporting station. 
It occupies a lofty brow to the west of the village, on 
a tongue of land formed by the junction of two 
small streams. On three sides the ground falls from 
the camp; on the west only it is commanded by a 
high moorland hill, whose prospect ranges from the 
Cheviots, in the north, to the Cleveland hills, in the 
south. The station is one of the largest class, con- 
taining an area of about eight acres. The walls may 
be distinguished on all sides. The south wall, though 
deprived of its facing-stones, stands eight feet high, 
and shews nine courses of thin rubble-stones ar- 
ranged edgewise in a leaning direction. A layer of 
very rough mortar has been placed on each course 
of stones after they have been placed in their bed. 
On the outside of the south-east angle a subterranean 
chamber has been discovered ; the descent to it is 
by steps. It is difficult to conjecture the use to 
which it has been put ; a similar chamber was found 



LANCHESTER. 343 

to occupy the same position outside the camp at 
Plumpton. The masonry of some chambers near 
the south-east corner of the station, which when first 
opened were found to be full of bones, is very per- 
fect. The remains of a hypocaust may be seen near 
to the place where the pretorium has probably stood. 
Lanchester seems to have been garrisoned almost 
throughout the entire period of Roman occupation ; 
a large proportion of the coins found at it are of the 
higher empire, but the series extends down to 
Valentinian. The name of Gordian occurs on two 
inscriptions as the restorer of some of its buildings. 
The destruction of the station was probably owing to 
some sudden and violent catastrophe. The obser- 
vations of Surtees on this subject, are applicable to 
many of the camps of the Barrier. 

The red ashes of the basilica and bath, the vitrified flooring, 
and the metallic substances evidently run by fire, which occur 
amongst the ruins, form a strong indication that the structure 
perished in the flames. 

It has already been observed (p. 261) that two 
aqueducts have brought water to the station from a 
distance of some miles. This is the more remark- 
able as several deep wells have been found near the 
camp, and there are open springs within fifty paces 
from the south and east wall. 

The surrounding moor abounds in iron-stone ; of 
this the Romans seem to have availed themselves, 
for immense heaps of slag, of ancient production, 
have been found in the neighbourhood. 



344 BEWCASTLE. 

BINCHESTER is still farther to the south, on 
the same line of road ; but, on account of its distance, 
would have but little intercourse with the stations 
immediately connected with the Barrier. It con- 
tains some hypocausts, which are peculiarly worthy 
of careful examination. 

Retracing our steps and again penetrating the re- 
gion of fierce Caledonian onslaughts and border feuds, 
we find Bewcastle occupying a position north of the 
Wall, on the Maiden- way, corresponding with that 
which Risingham does on Watling-street. 

BEWCASTLE stands in the bottom of a basin 
formed by a wide amphitheatre of bleak and lofty 
hills. The camp occupies a platform slightly eleva- 
ted above the rivulet, the Kirkbeck, which washes its 
southern ramparts and permeates the valley. The 
northern side is the weakest part of the position, but 
even here there is a depression in the contour of 
the ground, which would render it more easily de- 
fensible. In this quarter too there are marks of 
artificial fortifications beyond the station wall. The 
fort, in order to suit the nature of the ground, is not 
of the usual square form, but is six-sided ; it proba- 
bly encloses an area of about four acres. The 
ground on which the camp stands is reckoned the 
most fertile in all Cumberland. It was in the depth 
of winter that I visited it (1, Jan. 1850) but even 
then the space occupied by the fortifications might 
be distinguished by its peculiar verdure. To the 
east of the camp are some barrow-like mounds, and 



BEWCASTLE. 345 

on the west of it are terraced lines, bearing testimony 
to the agricultural industry of the Romans. On the 
eminence westward of the camp are the foundations 
of square buildings, probably posts of observation. 
On the lofty summits of some of the adjacent hills 
the concentric lines of British encampments plainly 
appear. They still seem to bid defiance to the 
Roman fort in the valley. 

Within the lines of the camp, and protected by a 
moat of its own, is a dark and frowning castle ; it is 
tersely described in an ancient manuscript, ' as a 
strength against the Scots in time of warre/ The 
captain of Bewcastle was a military chief of 
considerable power ; he is frequently mentioned 
in Border minstrelsy. The castle is built with 
the stones of the station. Its masonry is very 
rude ; the mortar which has been used is rough, 
containing, besides gravel and sand, pieces of coal, 
charcoal, burnt clay, and broken bricks. A tower, 
apparently added after the main structure was reared, 
guards the entrance-gateway. 

This, or some previous building, gives name to 
Bewcastle — Bueth's- castle. 

Bueth was, before the conquest, lord of Bewcastle and Gils- 
land. After some previous changes, Henry II., by a grant, 
dated c apud Novum Castrum super Tynam^ gave the manor 
of Gilsland to Hubert de Vallibus, one of his Norman re- 
tainers. The Saxons were not men quietly to submit to wrong. 
Gilbert Bueth, son of the dispossessed proprietor, collecting a 
band of followers, made frequent incursions into his ancient 
patrimony. Robert de Vallibus, son of Hubert, the former 
possessor, suggested a conference, at which he basely assas- 

2x 



346 ORIGIN OF LANERCOST PRIORY. 

sinated the unarmed Saxon. Expiation was easy ; the 
priory of Lanercost was founded and richly endowed. It is 
traditionally said that part of the expiatory ceremony con- 
sisted in the demolition of the walls of his castle at Castle- 
steads (Cambeck-fort), and sowing the site with salt. The 
baronial residence was transferred to Irthington, where, as 
already observed, some traces of it remain. Robert de Val- 
libus was afterwards employed by Henry II. as a judge of 
assize. How lax must the state of morality have been, when 
a murderer was allowed to sit upon the bench ! His ill-got- 
ten lands were not permitted to descend to his posterity, Wil- 
liam, his only child, dying before him. 

The far-famed Runic cross, respecting which so 
much has been written, holds its ancient place in the 
church-yard of Bewcastle. The inscription, which 
is now hardly legible, is pronounced by Kemble 
(Archaeologia xxviii. 347) to be an Anglo-Saxon, not 
a Norse one. Two Roman inscriptions, not now 
to be found, have been described as belonging to 
this station. One of them, which Camden saw 
used as a grave-stone, bore the letters, 

leg[io] ii avg[vsta] The second legion, the august, 

fecit made this. 

The other, much fractured, Horsley saw fulfilling 
the same office. He says, 'I take it to have been an 
honorary monument erected to Hadrian, by the 
Legio secunda Augusta, and the Legio vicesimaJ 

WHITLEY CASTLE is the modern name of 
another outpost, which is situated on the Maiden- 
way, as far south of the Wall as Bewcastle is north 



WHITLEY CASTLE. 347 

of it. An imperfect inscription found here, and 
described by Camden and Horsley, commemorates 
the dedication of a temple to Caracalla, in his fourth 
consulship (A.D. 213), by the third cohort of the 
Nervii. As the Notitia places the third cohort of 
the Nervii at Alionis, it is conceived that such 
may have been the ancient designation of the camp at 
Whitley Castle. The station stands upon the 
gently inclining side of a hill, about two miles 
north of the town of Alston. The railway ap- 
proaches within a few furlongs of it. The form 
of the camp is peculiar, being that of a trapezoid, 
whereas the usual figure is that of a parallelogram* 
In another respect it differs from all the other camps 
that we have hitherto examined ; it is surrounded by 
an extraordinary number of earthen entrenchments. 
On the western side, which is the most exposed, 
there are no fewer than seven ditches, with corres- 
ponding ramparts, and on the north, four. These 
earth-works are in a state of wonderful preserva- 
tion. The strength of these lines, and the compara- 
tive absence, both within and without the station, 
of Roman stones, render it probable that the 
garrison trusted to breastworks of earth, rather 
than of masonry. The general level of the camp 
is elevated above the surface of the contiguous 
ground, in consequence, probably, of the mass of 
ruins which it contains. Its whole area, including 
the entrenchments and ditches, amounts to nine acres. 
A large altar procured from the station is in the 
neighbouring farm house ; the inscription is illeg- 



348 ROMAN DUNGHILL. 

ible, but it has on the upper part of its four sides, a 
carving in bold relief. 

It is no unusual thing to find in the neighbour- 
hood of a Roman station manifest traces of the dung- 
hill of the fort. As might be expected, such a 
repository is replete with objects which, though once 
despised and cast away as worthless, well repay the 
search of the antiquary. Not far from the north-east 
angle of this camp a large dunghill was found, 
which has been recently removed for farm purposes. 
It contained numerous fragments of Roman earthen- 
ware and glass, as well as armillas of jet or fine can- 
nel coal. Its most curious product, however, was a 
large store of old shoes or sandals. The soles were 
all made ' right and left,' and consisted of several folds 
of leather fastened together with round-headed nails. 
(See Plate XVIII. figs. 3, 4, 5.) Were this the only 
place where these curious objects have been found, 
we might hesitate to assign to them a primeval date, 
but very many having been discovered in digging 
the foundations of Carlisle gaol, and some in clearing 
the buildings at Cilurnum, as well as other places, 
and being accompanied in every instance by other 
articles of undoubted Roman manufacture, we are 
entitled to consider them as the produce of Ro- 
man hands. Modern artists might examine them 
with advantage ; Roman shoe-makers thought it no 
dishonour to let nature prescribe the form that their 
handy-work should assume. 

Wallis, the author of the Natural History and 
Antiquities of Northumberland, was born within the 



WALLIs's ENTHUSIASM. 349 

ramparts of this camp ; the house is now removed. 
In the preface to his work he accounts for the anti- 
quarian bias of his mind in the following strain : — 

Northumberland being Roman ground, and receiving my 
first breath in one of their castra, I was led by a sort of en- 
thusiasm to an inquiry and search after their towns, their 
cities, and temples, their baths, their altars, their tumuli, 
their military ways, and other remains of their splendour and 
magnificence ; which will admit of a thousand views and re- 
views, and still give pleasure to such as have a gust for any 
thing Roman ; every year almost presenting new discoveries 
of the wisdom, the contrivance, ingenuity, and elegance of that 
respectable people. 

Although nearly a century has elapsed since 
Wallis wrote this, the field of Romano-British an- 
tiquities still retains much of the fertility he ascribes 
to it, and doubtless, has stores yet in reserve for 
the assiduous inquirer. 

Before proceeding to the stations which supported 
the western extremity of the Wall, there are two 
camps, one to the east, and another to the west of the 
Maiden-way, which demand a little of our attention. 

OLD TOWN.— Horsley entertained the idea that 
he had found the remains of a Roman camp at Old 
Town, near Catton Beacon, in Allendale. Hodgson 
treats the opinion with some degree of ridicule. I 
am disposed to think that Horsley is right, though 
the inquiries I made on the spot did not lead me 
to a decision of the question. 

BRAMPTON.— About a mile west of the modern 
town of Brampton, upon a gentle eminence com- 
manding a view in every direction of a most beauti- 



350 STATION NEAR BRAMPTON. 

ful country, are the traces of a small Roman camp. 
The father of English topography, guided in some 
measure by the similarity of the names, fixed the an- 
cient Bremetenracum at Brampton ; but Horsley, 
in consequence of the absence of Roman remains, 
demurred to the correctness of the conclusion. It 
is not surprising that this camp escaped the atten- 
tion of Horsley, as it is situated within the ancient 
park of Brampton, considerable portions of which 
were, a century ago, covered with tangled brushwood 
and venerable forest trees. Its trenches, though 
still visible, are fast disappearing; every time it 
is ploughed, the furrow is turned into the hol- 
low of its fosse. Though hundreds of cart-loads of 
stones have been taken from it, the ground on 
which the camp stood is thickly strewed with stony 
fragments. On walking over the spot, I picked up 
a piece of dove-coloured pottery, part of a millstone, 
and several portions of Roman tile. Besides indi- 
vidual coins which have occasionally been found 
here, an earthen jar, containing a large hoard, was 
turned up by the plough in 1826. It contained not 
fewer than five thousand pieces, all of them of the 
lower empire. 

If Whitley Castle be the Alionis of the Notitia, 
this, as coming next in order, may be, as Camden 
conjectured, Bremetenracum." 

n Horsley, near the close of his work, was less opposed to this 
view than at the beginning. In a note (p. 481), he says — ' I see 
no reason to change my sentiments concerning any one of these 
stations ; except that I am more inclined to yield to the common 



ANCIENT TUMULI. 351 

In the plain to the south of the camp, are some re- 
markable tumuli. One mound of large dimensions, 
standing alone, is covered with oak trees. Three 
others of small size, and close to each other, are at the 
eastern extremity of the same field. Two of them 
are circular, and about twelve yards in diameter ; the 
third is elongated, and measures about thirty-two 
yards in length. Whatever opinion we may form 
respecting the larger mound, there can be no doubt 
that the smaller ones are artificial barrows ; the hollow 
made by the excavation of the soil for their forma- 
tion is discernible. They do not appear to have been 
opened, but will no doubt soon yield up their long- 
hoarded treasures to some enterprising antiquary. 

Between the station and the town of Brampton, 
may be noticed the faint traces of an earthen en- 
campment of the usual Roman form ; it is fast disap- 
pearing under the action of the plough. West of the 
station, stands an ancient church, formed of Roman 
stones. Though the living have forsaken the vener- 
able pile, the dead are still being laid in its church-yard. 

We now approach the stations which supported 
the Barrier near its western extremity ; it will be 
well to examine first those north of the Wall. 

opinion, that Bremetenracum is at Brampton, and to think that 
Olenacum and Virosidum are transposed ; so that Olena- 
cum may be Ellenborough, on the river Ellen, and Virosi- 
dum, Old Carlisle, on the Wiza. And if the military-way near 
the Wall, which goes by Watchcross, has led to Brampton, as the 
country people suppose, this might still make it more probable, that 
Brampton is Bremetenracum.' 



352 CAMP AT NETHERBY. 

NETHERBY.— The nucleus of the seat of sir 
James Graham is a border tower, with walls of great 
thickness. These walls were doubtless erected at the 
expense of the ramparts and buildings of the camp, 
within which the mansion is situated. The form of 
the station cannot now be satisfactorily denned ; 
but the number and importance of the coins, altars, 
and sculptures, which have been found within it, 
prove that it was a place of consequence during 
the period of Roman occupation. The site, though 
not greatly elevated, commands an extensive pro- 
spect in every direction. The bank on its west- 
ern side, which slopes down to the valley of the 
Esk, is said to have been washed in ancient days 
by the waters of the Solway. 

Among the many important inscriptions discover- 
ed here, is one to Hadrian, closely resembling those 
which have been found at Milking-gap, Bradley, and 
other places. The stone has long been lost, but 
in Gough's Camden the inscription is given thus — 

IMP. CAES. TRA. 

HADRIANO 

AVG. 

LEG. II. AVG. F. 

Some very fine sculptured stones, found in the 
station, are preserved on the spot. Amongst them 
is one which is figured on the adjoining page. A 
youth stands in a niche, a mural crown is on his 
head, a cornucopia in his left hand, and a patera, 
from which he pours out a libation on an altar, in 
his right ; it is one of the finest carvings that is to 



SCULPTURE AT NETHERBY. 



353 



be met with on the line of the Wall. From the 
grooves which are cut in the lower part of the stone, 

we may naturally con- 
clude, that the figure 
has been formerly set 
in masonry, perhaps 
to adorn the approach 
to some temple. Gor- 
don supposes the fig- 
ure to be intended 
for Hadrian ; Lysons 
thinks that it was 
meant for the l Genius 
of the Wall of Sever- 
us' — let us combine 
the two ideas, and 
suppose, that the fig- 
ure is that of Hadrian, 
representing, as he 
had the best right to 
do, ' the Genius of the 
Barrier.' 

Reference will after- 
wards be made to the 
figures of the DeceMa- 
tres which have been 
found here, 

Netherby is sup- 
posed to be the Cas- 

TRA ExPLORATORUM 

of the second Antonine ' Iter,' which was garri- 

2 Y 




354 BLATUM BULGIUM. 

soned by a numerus exploratorum. Its situation 
is very suitable for an exploratory garrison ; and its 
distance from Carlisle on the one hand, and Middle- 
by on the other, nearly corresponds with the distance 
at which it is set down in the Itinerary both from 
Luguvallium and Blatum Bulgium. 

MIDDLEBY.— To the south of Middleby Kirk, in 
the county of Dumfries, is a camp which is called in 
the district Burns, or Birrens. It occupies a low 
and sheltered situation, but possesses, notwithstand- 
ing, considerable natural capabilities of defence. 
The water of Mein washes the earthy scar which 
forms its southern margin, and the Middleby burn, 
which joins the Mein at the south-east angle of the 
camp, runs parallel to its eastern rampart. It ap- 
pears, from the plan given in Roy's Military Anti- 
quities, to have been protected, in addition to its 
stone walls, on three sides by four earthen ramparts, 
with intervening ditches ; and on the north, which 
was at once by nature the weakest, and the quarter 
most exposed to the attack of the enemy, by not 
fewer than six. The northern ramparts remain in 
nearly their original completeness, but the overflow- 
ings of the Mein on the south, the construction of a 
road on the east, and the operations of agriculture on 
the west, have destroyed the ramparts on these sides. 
A procestrium, or out-work, protected by its own ram- 
parts, appears to have been appended to the west side 
of the original camp ; or, perhaps, to speak more cor- 
rectly, the suburban buildings, which were situated 



CAMP NEAR MIDDLEBY. 355 

in this quarter were embraced by an additional forti- 
fication. In so exposed a situation, such a precau- 
tion would be highly proper. The field in which the 
procestrium was, has been brought into cultivation, 
and a great number of carved stones, which were 
found in it, taken to Hoddam Castle. The corners 
of the camp are, as is usually the case, rounded ; the 
four gateways are clearly discernible. The interior 
area of the station measures three acres and three- 
quarters. On the south side of the station a large 
vault, arched with stone, was laid open more than a 
century ago. Popular credulity has magnified it into 
an underground passage, which extended all the way 
to Burns wark; the people in the neighbourhood aver 
that they have known persons go a considerable way 
along it. 

The altars and sculptures found at this place are 
engraved and described, apparently with great 
accuracy, in Stuart's Caledonia Romana. Amongst 
them is a stone tablet, bearing the words — 

IMP. CAESARI TRAIAN. LEG. SECVND. AVG. 

A piece of another, with the inscription — 

LEG. XX. VLCT. 

The lamented author of this work says — 
With the exception of a brass coin of Germanicus, and the 
inscription containing the name of Hadrian, the greater part, 
if not all the antiquities found at Birrens, may be ascribed per- 
haps to the third or fourth century. The striking similarity 
of style and execution which exists between them and the 
bulk of those discovered in the north of England, of which 
the dates can be ascertained, is sufficient to stamp them as 
the productions of a period subsequent to the reign of Sep- 
timius Severus. — Caledonia Romana, 130. 



356 BURNSWARK HILL. 

It did not belong to the author's subject, to in- 
quire, how the fact of so few of the memorials of the 
mural line being of the age of Severus, comported 
with the popular idea that he built the Wall ! 

BURNSWARK, or Birrenswork. — A solitary 
hill, nearly three miles to the north-west of Middleby, 
rises to the height of nearly seven hundred and forty 
feet above the level of the sea. ' On its top lies an 
unequal plain, about nine hundred feet long, by four 
hundred and fifty of mean width — almost inaccess- 
ible on two of its sides, and by no means of easy at- 
tainment on any/ From this elevated summit, the 
mountain ridges which are scattered over not fewer 
than six of the Scottish counties can be descried; 
looking eastward, the Nine -nicks of Thirl wall are in 
sight; southward, the familiar forms of Skiddaw, 
Saddleback, and Cross-fell rise into view ; to the 
south-west, the craggy peaks of the Isle of Man 
arrest the attention in favourable states of the atmo- 
sphere ; and, not unfrequently a long, black streak, on 
the distant verge of the ocean, indicates the position 
of Ireland. According to the former political divi- 
sions of the British empire, four kingdoms were thus 
to be seen from Burnswark-hill. 

So commanding a position was not neglected by 
the ancient Britons. ' Around the area of the sum- 
mit may still be traced the remains of a wall, com* 
posed of earth and stones, which seems to have been 
raised at every spot where the precipitous rock did 

Caledonia Romana, 13], 



CAMPS ON THE HILL. 357 

not of itself afford sufficient protection.' Unhappily 
most of the stones have been hurled into the valley 
below, to form a long boundary fence. The enclosure 
is divided into two compartments of nearly equal size; 
one of them contains a circular range of stones, the 
remains apparently of an ancient cairn or watch- 
tower. 

On two of the sides of Burnswark are the vestiges 
of Roman military works. The largest, which is on 
the southern slope, encloses an area of twelve acres. 
It has been originally encompassed by two ramparts, 
separated, as usual, by a deep trench ; it had three 
gates on the upper, and apparently the same num- 
ber on the under side, with a single one at each 
end. These gateways have been protected by cir- 
cular mounds, thrown up before them, and fortified 
on the top. The pretorium, or general's quarters, 
defended by an entrenchment of its own, was placed 
on the north-west angle of the camp. This cir- 
cumstance would seem to warrant us in supposing, 
that, even in the stationary camps of the Wall, the 
pretorium was not uniformly placed in the upper 
part of the central area, where, according to the 
usual theory, we should expect to find it. All the 
entrenchments are of earth, and on the north side 
they are peculiarly bold. 

The camp on the northern face of the hill has been 
constructed upon the same principle, but is in a less 
perfect condition. It is of the same length, but has 
only half its breadth. A covered way conducts from 
the one to the other. It is probable that both these 



358 CAMP AT PLUMPTON. 

camps have been the summer quarters, castra 
cestiva, of the garrison at Middleby. So important 
a position would not, however, at any period of the 
year be abandoned to the enemy; 'when not filled with 
the tents of its summer inhabitants, it is probable 
that a small garrison was maintained on its summit. ,p 

PLUMPTON.— Several camps south of the line, 
and at nearly equal distances from the Wall and from 
one another, added security to the fortification in the 
western district. Plumpton, or Old Penrith, called in 
the locality by the common name of Castlesteads, 
is a large station about thirteen miles south of 
Carlisle. The conjecture of Horsley ascribed to it, the 
name of Bremetenracum. The turnpike-road 
goes close past it, as did the ancient Roman way 
which led from Luguvallium to the south of 
Britain. The station presents the usual character- 
istics of a Roman camp. Though not much elevated, 
it is sufficiently raised to enjoy a most extensive 
view of the surrounding country. The western 
side is the strongest, being protected by the deep 
but narrow valley in which the river Peterel flows. 
Its ramparts are boldly marked, and the interior of 
the station is filled up to their level by a mass of 
prostrate habitations. The largest heap of ruins is 
on the north-east quarter ; it may be the remains of 
the pretorium. The fosse is well defined on the 
north, south, and west sides. Enough of the eastern 
gate remains to shew that it has been a double por- 

p Caledonia Romana, 134. 



OLD PENRITH. 359 

tal. One stone of the threshold yet retains its 
position ; it is worn by the feet of the ancient 
tenants of the city, and is circularly chafed by the 
action of the door in opening and shutting. Several 
very large stones, which have been used in the con- 
struction of the south gateway, lie near their original 
site — some of them yet exhibit the holes in which 
the pivots of the doors turned. The line of the 
street, which went from the eastern to the western 
gateway (via principalis), is Discernible. On the 
outside of the south-east corner of the station, an 
arched chamber, or passage, was discovered a few 
years ago ; bat it is now filled up with rubbish. 

Extensive remains of ancient foundations have 
been removed from the field on the east of the sta- 
tion ; here, according to tradition, Old Penrith stood. 
There are also indications of suburban buildings to 
the west of the station. In the neighbourhood of the 
camp, and even at some distance from it, we meet, in 
the houses and stone fences, with such a number of 
the small neat stones which were usually employed 
in the construction of Roman dwellings, as to impress 
us with the idea, that the suburban buildings were 
very extensive in every direction. 

In recently lowering a part of the turnpike-road, 
about a quarter of a mile south of the station, a well, 
cased with Roman masonry, was exposed. It is 
square, and is set diagonally to the road ; it now co- 
piously supplies the neighbouring farm-houses, 
which formerly were, in dry seasons, much incon- 
venienced by the scarcity of water. 



360 



OLD CARLISLE. 



Several sculptured, and inscribed stones, as well 
as coins, have been found here ; but none of them 
are of a nature sufficiently interesting to detain us 
longer at Plumpton. 

OLD CARLISLE is nearly two miles south of 
Wigton. The station is a large one ; the ruins of 
its ramparts and interior buildings are boldly 
marked. A double ditch, with intervening vallum, 
seems to have surrounded the fort. The rivulet 
Wiza runs in a deep ravine immediately below the sta- 
tion, on its west side, and at a remoter distance, on its 
south also, thereby lending to it additional strength. 
The remains of suburban buildings may still be seen 
outside the walls, on the south, east, and west. 

Within the fort, a street may be 
distinctly traced from the north 
to the south gate, and another 
from the east towards the west. 
Near the centre of the station 
is a moist spot of ground where 
we may conceive a well to have 
been. Up to a recent period, 
the Roman roads leading from 
this station on the one hand, 
to Carlisle, and on the other 
to Maryport, were distinctly 
visible. Of the many import- 
ant inscribed stones dug out 
of this station, that which is represented above is 
probably the most interesting. It was found in the 



Ml 



>■■ ■< 






m, 



-""' 



CAMP NEAR MARYPORT. 361 

year 1775, about two hundred yards east of the 
camp, and is now in the collection at Netherby. 

i[ovi] Optimo] m[aximo] To Jupiter, best and greatest. 
pro salvt[ej For the safety 

lMpfERATORiSj l. sEPTiMrii] of the emperor Lucius Septimius 
severe avg[vsti] n'ostri] Severus, our Augustus ; 

eqvites alae The cavalry of the wing styled 
avg[vst,£] cvrante the Augustan, under the direction of 
egnatio vere- Egnatius Vere- 

cvndo pra- cundus pre- 

ef[ectvs] posvervnt feet, placed this. 

MARYPORT.— On the cliffs overhanging the 
modern town of Maryport, are the manifest remains 
of a large Roman station. Its position gives it a 
commanding view of the Solway Firth and Irish 
Channel. The camp is a very large one, and the 
lines of its ramparts are very boldly developed. The 
eastern side, which is the only one that is not de- 
fended by a natural defile, or valley, was protected 
by a double ditch. There are some traces of ma- 
sonry also near the gateway on this side, which ren- 
der it probable that this entrance had been guarded 
by additional outworks. Some portions of this gate- 
way remain ; the sill of it is strongly marked by the 
action of chariot wheels. The ruts are about 
five inches deep, and five feet ten inches apart. 
Within the station is a well, encased with circular 
masonry. The interior of the station was excavated 
in 1766. The following account of the appearances 
which were then observed, is given in Lysons' Cum- 
berland : — 

2 z 



362 HOSPITAL CAMP. 

The workmen found the arch of the gate beat violently 
down and broken ; and on entering the great street, discover- 
ed evident marks of the houses having been more than once 
burnt to the ground and rebuilt ; an event not unlikely to have 
happened on so exposed a frontier. The streets had been 
paved with broad flag-stones, much worn by use, particularly 
the steps into a vaulted room, supposed to have been a temple. 
The houses had been roofed by Scotch slates, which, with the 
pegs which fastened them, lay confusedly in the streets. Glasg 
vessels, and even mirrors were found ; and coals had evidently 
been used in the fire places. Foundations of buildings were 
round the fort on all sides. 

In the grounds of Nether Hall, the seat of 
J. Pocklington Senhouse, esq., is a small entrench- 
ment containing an area of about an acre and a 
half ; it is in a low and sheltered position, and has 
probably been a retreat for invalids. Ancient 
roads have diverged from this station, leading to 
Bowness, Wigton, and Papcastle. On draining, 
lately, the fields on the line of road leading to- 
wards Old Carlisle, its pavement was met with, 
and to a great extent removed. The body of 
of the road was composed of large granite boulders, 
some of them a quarter of a ton in weight ; the 
interstices being filled up with smaller stones. On 
the south side of this way several slabs of stone 
were found, lying flat on the ground. They proba- 
bly covered the ashes of the dead ; fragments of red 
pottery and glass were found beneath them. 

Very numerous and very important are the re- 
mains of antiquity which this station has yielded. 
With the exception of one fine altar, they are all 
carefully preserved in the house and grounds at 



ANTIQUITIES AT NETHER HALL. 



363 



Nether Hall. Many of the sculptured stones which 
have been found here, are more highly carved and 
more tastefully designed than is usual in the mural 
region. An altar to the genius of the place, which 
has been removed to Whitehaven Castle, and will be 
described in the last Part of this work, is character- 
ized by Camden as ' ara pulcherrima affabrt arti- 
ficio antiquo exculpta, and a more graceful altar 




than that which is shewn in this cut, we have not 
met with in our mural peregrination. It is import- 
ant, also, as proving the residence here of the 
4 prima cohors Hispanorum^ In consequence, pro- 
bably, of some service done t.n Wc,rlripn tv»ics ™hnw- 



364 ANTIQUITIES AT NETHER HALL. 

seems, subsequently to the dedication of this altar, to 
have obtained the title of ^Elia and the rank of milli- 
aria equitata. The inscription may be read. — 

i[Ovn ocptimoj mcaximo] To Jupiter, the best and greatest. 

coh[ors] i his[panorvm] This first cohort of the Spaniards, 

cvi praecest] Commanded by 

maErcvs] maeni- Marcus Mseni- 

vs AGRiprPA] us Agrippa 

TRiBvrNvsj The Tribune, 

posCvit] Erected this. 

A plain, square, but now partially fractured, pillar, 
inscribed, romae aeternae et fortvnae redvci, is 
reserved to form the concluding cut on the last page 
of this volume. It is a striking memorial at once of 
the aspiring pretensions and blighted prospects of 
the imperial city. A boar, the symbol of the 
twentieth legion, exhibiting more than the usual 
spirit, forms the vignette at the close of this Part ; 
and the slab which bears testimony to the labours 
which the second, and twentieth, legion underwent in 
constructing the works of this station, is introduced 
at the close of the Part devoted to the discussion of 
the question ' Who built the Wall ?' There is pre- 
served in the piazza at Nether Hall, a carving in 
relief of a warrior on horseback trampling on a fal- 
len enemy ; the drawing is not strictly correct, but 
is very spirited, and the foreshortening of the horse's 
head remarkably good. Besides these, there are 
several large and instructive altars and funereal 
slabs, as well as a tablet having a Greek inscription 
to this effect — Aulus Egnatius Pastor set up this 
to iEsculapius. 



ANCIENT BARROW. 365 

The minor antiquities consist of fragments of tiles, 
one of which bears the stamp of the first cohort of 
the Spaniards, a bronze pot bearing a marked re- 
semblance to some which are in modern use, several 
earthenware vessels of large size, and quite perfect, 
implements of iron, and weapons of war. Amongst 
the coins which have been found in the station, 
are a great many forged denarii of Trajan and 
Hadrian. They are chiefly formed of lead, and 
are badly made; in some instances the metal has 
not reached the centre of the mould, and in scarcely 
any have the edges of the casting been properly 
dressed. Genuine coin must have been exceed- 
ingly scarce among the soldiery of the camp, and 
their credulity very great, to allow of the circu- 
lation of such base imitations. 

A large artificial mound or barrow is to the 
left of the station. The inhabitants had an old tra- 
dition respecting it ; they conceived it to be the 
sepulchre of a king. It was opened in 1763 ; near 
its centre ' the pole and shank bones of an ox ' were 
found, but neither urns, burnt bones, nor coins, were 
discovered. 

There is great uncertainty about the ancient name 
of this fort. Camden pronounced it to be Olen- 
acum, chiefly influenced by the resemblance in 
sound between it and the name of the neighbouring 
village of Ellenborough (Mary port is but of recent 
origin). This supposition gathers force from the fact 
that in ancient documents the river Ellen, which gives 
name to the place, is written ' Alne ' and ' Okie.' 



366 CAMP AT MORESBY. 

PAPCASTLE is about six miles south-east of 
Maryport. Numerous relics of antiquity have been 
found here, but little now remains to mark it out as 
the site of a Roman station except its extraordinary 
fertility. The town of Cockermouth, a mile to the 
south of the fort, is supposed to have risen from its 
ruins. 

The forts which we have already examined may 
be thought sufficient to support the line of the Wall. 
The peculiar circumstances of its western extrem- 
ity will perhaps justify us in reckoning Moresby, 
notwithstanding its distance from the Wall, among 
the out-stations of the Barrier. Not only does the 
Scottish coast, by projecting considerably beyond the 
western termination of the Wall, facilitate the inva- 
sion of the intra-mural portion of the island — but Ire- 
land, the native land of the Scoto-Celts, is nigh at 
hand. It was necessary to prevent, not only the 
inhabitants of Caledonia landing on the coast of 
Cumberland, but the ' Scots,' also, who at that time 
' poured out of Ireland/ Another sea-port station, 
south of Maryport, was therefore requisite. 

MORESBY, within a short distance of White- 
haven, still exhibits the remains of a Roman camp. 
It occupies a commanding position, enjoying espe- 
cially an extensive marine prospect. Its western 
and southern ramparts are still good. The parish 
church and church-yard border upon its eastern 
wall. A sculptured stone, evidently chiselled by 
Roman hands, lies upon the spot, under the ruined 



FORT AT MALBRAY. 



367 



chancel-arch of the old church. The important slab, 
of which the wood-cut gives a representation, was 
found in digging for the foundations of the present 
parish church. It is another of the interesting testi- 
monies which 
we have of the 
energy and in- 
fluence of the 
emperor Had- 
rian in those 
parts. Like the 
Milking- gap 
inscription, it 
gives the name 
of the emper- 




J SiOREUDEL 



or in the genitive case. 

A military way ran along the coast from this sta- 
tion, by way of Maryport, to the extremity ot the 
Wall, at Bowness. By this means, the defence of 
the coast could be more effectually secured. As the 
distance between Maryport and Bowness is con- 
siderable, a small camp was planted at Malbray, 
which is about midway between the two places. The 
site of it is now a ploughed field. 

We have now taken a hasty review of the stations 
on both sides of the Wall, which have supported that 
structure. Never, assuredly, was a dangerous frontier 
more securely guarded. So long as the stations were 
supplied with vigilant and well-disciplined troops, no 
foe, however well armed, could successfully attempt 
the passage of the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. 



368 MURAL SCENES. 

Even the cursory view that we have taken of the 
subject, entitles us to say, that the boldness of the de- 
sign was worthy of Rome in the zenith of her glory ; 
and that the manner in which the project was car- 
ried out was becoming a nation with whom to con- 
ceive was to execute. 

If we turn our attention for a moment from the 
work, to the object for which it was intended, regret, 
that man should use his ingenuity for the purposes 
of aggression and bloodshed, will take the place of 
admiration. Milton aptly describes the scenes which 
this region would often witness : — 

He lookM, and saw wide territory spread 
Before him, towns, and rural works between, 
Cities of men with lofty gates and towers, 
Concourse in arms, fierce faces threatening war, 
Giants of mighty bone, and bold emprise ; 

Part wield their arms 

now scattered lies 

With carcases and arms th 1 ensanguined field 

Deserted 

. . . . Others from The Wall defend 

With dart and javelin 

On each hand slaughter and gigantic deeds. 

Adam was all in tears. Paradise Lost, xi. 638-674. 



Symbol ol Leg. xx. v.v. 



Cije &oman Barrier of tj)e 
Softer f stinnus. 



PART V. 



THR QUESTION WHO BUILT THE WALL 



-DISCUSSED. 




[ course hitherto has been a detail 
>f facts ; now we enter upon the 
region of speculation. In the 
former Parts of this work, the 
history of the Roman occupa- 
tion of Britain has been briefly- 
told and an attempt made to de- 
pict the present condition of the 
Vallum and Wall, with their camps, 
istles, and outworks ; now the ques- 
tion must be put— Is the Barrier the 
Work of one master-mind, or are its several 
parts the productions of different periods, and of 
different persons ? Had the statements of the an- 
cient historians upon the subject been explicit and 

3a 



370 agricola' s works. 

consistent, the inquiry would involve simply an 
appeal to their authority ; unhappily, the inform- 
ation which they afford is not only very meagre, but 
of a character so unsatisfactory, as to compel us to 
sift their evidence, and to compare it with the facts 
which we glean from an examination of the fortifica- 
tions themselves. 

Agricola, we are informed by Tacitus, erected forts 
both on the Lower and Upper Isthmus ; we are no- 
where told that he drew walls, whether of earth or 
stone, across either of them. The northern rampart 
of the Vallum has by many been conceived to be 
the work of Agricola. In the absence of any direct 
historical testimony bearing upon this subject, the 
circumstance that the lines of the Vallum pursue a 
course precisely parallel to each other, must be 
considered as fatal to this theory. It is altogether 
incredible, that two engineers should at different 
periods construct independent works, without cross- 
ing each other's ramparts. In Roy's Military An- 
tiquities, several instances are given where the 
trenches of one encampment cut arbitrarily those of 
another, the troops who last occupied the post, not 
seeming to pay the least attention to the works of 
their predecessors ; the lines of the Vallum would 
doubtless exhibit the same appearance had they 
been the works of different periods. The claims- 
of Agricola to the authorship of any part of the 
Vallum may therefore at once be set aside, and the 
inquiry be confined to the relative claims of Hadrian 
and Severus. 



HADRIAN AND SEVERUS. 371 

If the parallelism of the lines of the Vallum be 
fatal to the theory, that one of the mounds is the work 
of Agricola, and the others the work of Hadrian, a 
similar mode of reasoning leads to the conclusion, 
that the Vallum and the Wall cannot be independent 
structures. If Severus, finding that the earth-works 
of Hadrian had fallen into decay, or were no longer 
sufficient to wall out the Caledonians, had determined 
to erect a more formidable Barrier, would he not 
have mapped out its track without any reference to 
the former ruinous and inefficient erection ? 
Had he done so, we should find the lines taking 
independent courses — sometimes contiguous, occa- 
sionally crossing each other ; sometimes widely 
separated, seldom pursuing for any distance a 
parallel course, but the Wall, as the latest built, 
uniformly seizing the strongest points, whether pre- 
viously occupied by the Vallum or not. This, how- 
ever, is not the case ; the Wall and Vallum, in 
crossing the island, pursue precisely the same track 
from sea to sea ; for the most part they are in close 
companionship, and in no instance does the Wall 
cut in upon the trenches of the Vallum. At the first 
view of the subject, therefore, we should be disposed 
to question the accuracy of the opinion which 
gives to these works distinct dates, and ascribes the 
Vallum to Hadrian, and the stone Wall to Severus. 
Before further prosecuting this inquiry, it will be 
well to lay before the reader all the statements of 
the ancient historians upon the matter in question ; 
he will by this means see the necessity of appeal- 



372 TESTIMONY OF HISTORIANS. 

ing to the structures themselves for a satisfactory 
decision of the question. 

Herodian was contemporary with Severus, and 
professes to have been an eye-witness of all that he 
relates. He gives a detailed account of the em- 
peror's proceedings in Britain, but does not once 
mention the Wall. Dion Cassius was also con- 
temporary with Severus. As before observed, that 
part of the original work which treats of Britain is 
lost ; we have, however, Xiphiline's abridgment 
of it. The only reference which he makes to the 
Wall, comports with its existence previous to the ar- 
rival of Severus in Britain, Speaking of that em- 
peror's expedition against the Caledonians, he says — - 

Nor did he ever return from this expedition, but died three 
years after he first set out from Rome. He got a prodigious 
mass of riches in Britain. The two most considerable bodies 
of people in that island, and to which almost all the rest re- 
late, are the Caledonians and the Meatse. The latter dwell 
near the Barrier Wall (of/tov<n ds o) fisv Mouarqi tfgog avrw ry 
Biare^Kffiari , 6 tt\v vrjdov d%% rs/jjvp) which divides the island into 
two parts. 

Spartian, writing about A.D. 280, is the first per- 
son who gives us any direct information about the 
erection of a Wall ; and it is on his testimony 
chiefly that the credit of the work has been given to 
Severus, Speaking of Hadrian, he says — 

He went to Britain w r here he corrected many things, and 
first drew a Wall (murumque primus duxit) eighty miles long, 
to separate the Romans from the barbarians, 

No testimony could be more explicit than this in 
favour of the view that Hadrian built the Wall. As 



TESTIMONY OF HISTORIANS. 373 

this writer, however, subsequently ascribes the work 
to Severus, many are of opinion that Spartian here 
speaks of the Vallum, not of the stone Wall. Mere 
verbal criticism will not decide the point, but it may 
be observed in passing, that although the words 
murus and vallum are occasionally interchanged by 
Latin authors, the term (murus) which Spartian 
uses in the passage, taken strictly, means a stone 
wall. Speaking of Severus, the same writer says — 

He fortified Britain with a Wall drawn (muro ducto) 'across 
the island, and ending on each side at the sea, which was the 
chief glory of his reign, and for which he received the name 
of Britannicus. 

The same writer, in a subsequent chapter, makes 
a second reference to the Wall, which is of some 
importance in discussing the question. Narrating an 
incident which occurred near the Wall, he says — 

After the Wall or Vallum in Britain was completed, and 
the emperor was returning to the next stage not as conqueror 
only, hut as founder of eternal peace, and was thinking within 
himself what omen might happen to him, an Ethiopian soldier, 
famous as a mimic, and noted for his jokes, crossed his path, 
crowned with cypress. Struck with the colour of the man, and 
his crown, he was angry with him, and ordered him to be put 
out of his sight, when the fellow is reported, by way of a joke, 
to have said — ' Thou hast been everything — conquered every- 
thing : now conqueror, be a god V 

Julius Capitolinus, a writer who flourished about 
the same time as Spartian (A.D. 280) speaking of 
the Antonine Wall, uses an expression which seems 
to imply, that the only previously existing Barrier 
was one of turf. He says — 



374 TESTIMONY OF HISTORIANS. 

Antoninus, by his legate Lollius Urbicus, conquered the 
Britons, the barbarians being secluded by another earthen 
wall (alio muro cespiticio ducto). 

All the remaining classical historians sum up in 
favour of Severus ; they, however, probably only re- 
echo the statements of Spartian, with a slight addi- 
tion of errors of their own. Eusebius Pamphilius 
says, that — 

Clodius Albinus being slain at Lyons, Severus made war 
upon the Britons, and in order to render the subject provinces 
more secure from barbaric invasion, he drew a Wall from sea 
to sea, an hundred and thirty-two miles long. 

Aurelius Victor, who wrote about A.D. 360, re- 
cording his great exploits, says — 

He achieved greater things than those, for after repulsing 
the enemy in Britain, he drew a Wall from sea to sea. 

The younger Victor, in his epitome of the work 
of the elder, says- 
He drew a Vallum thirty -two miles long from sea to sea. 
Eutropius wrote about the year 360. He says — 

Severus's last war was in Britain; he drew a Wall of 
thirty-two miles from sea to sea. 

Paulus Orosius, who wrote A.D. 417, says, that 
the conqueror Severus— 

Having fought many severe battles, determined to separate 
the part of the island which he had recovered, from the tribes 
that remained unsubdued, and, therefore, drew a deep fosse, 
and a very strong Vallum (magnam fossam firmissimumque 
vallum), strengthened with numerous towers, from sea to sea, 
over a space of one hundred and thirty-two miles. 



VALUE OF THEIR TESTIMONY. 375 

Cassiodorus, who wrote A.D. 520, gives a similar 
testimony. Among the events of the consulship of 
Aper and Maximus (A.D. 207), he enumerates the 
transference of the war by Severus to Britain — 

Where, that he might render the subject provinces more 
secure against the incursions of the barbarians, he drew a 
Wall (vallum) from sea to sea, one hundred and thirty-two 
miles in length. 

Such are the statements of the Roman historians 
respecting the authorship of the Wall. Several cir- 
cumstances tend to invalidate the claim which they 
make in behalf of Severus. The first author who at- 
tributes the Wall to Severus is Spartian, a weak 
writer, who lived in an ignorant age, and nearly a 
century after the time of Severus. Surely his asser- 
tion will not be allowed to outweigh the negative 
testimony of Herodian and Dion Cassius, the con- 
temporaries of Septimius Severus. Of all the authors 
who mention the length of the Wall, the only one 
who approaches correctness is Spartian, when speak- 
ing of the Wall, which he states that Hadrian drew 
from sea to sea ; eighty Roman miles is very nearly 
the true length. The other writers call it thirty-two, 
or one hundred and thirty-two. Admitting, as some 
have supposed, that the larger number is an error, 
occasioned by some careless transcriber's inserting 
in the copies the centurial number (C), which did 
not exist in the original, the difficulty is not removed. 
Thirty-two Roman miles is the length of the Barrier 
of the Upper Isthmus, not of the Lower, and these 
writers seem to have confounded the one with the 



376 SPARTIAN INCONSISTENT. 

other. Buchanan, Usher, and several writers, who 
were as capable of weighing the evidence furnished 
by the ancient historians as we are, have accordingly 
maintained, that the Wall which extended from the 
Forth to the Clyde, is that which was reared by 
Severus. This opinion we now know, from the in- 
scriptions found upon it, to be erroneous ; but the fact 
that it was entertained by such able scholars, proves 
the incompleteness of the historic evidence upon the 
subject. Milton correctly estimates the vague nature 
of this testimony. He writes — 

Severus, on the frontiers of what he had firmly conquered, 
builds a wall across the island from sea to sea ; which our 
author judges the most magnificent of all his other deeds; and 
that he thence received the style of Britannicus; in length a 
hundred and thirty-two miles. Orosius adds, it is fortified 
with a deep trench, and between certain spaces many towers 
or battlements. The place whereof, some will have to be in 
Scotland, the same which Lollius Urbicus had walled before. 
Others affirm it only Hadrian's work re-edified ; both plead 
authorities, and the ancient track, yet visible r but this I 
leave, among the studious of these antiquities, to be discussed 
more at large. — (History of England, bJc. \\.) 

Spartian, moreover, invalidates his own testimony 
when he says, that the erection of this Wall was the 
greatest glory of Severus's reign (quod maximum ejus 
imperii decus est). The Wall is indeed a magni- 
ficent work ; it is, as Stukely characterizes it, ' the 
noblest monument' of Roman power ' in Europe ;' 
but if reared by Severus, it is, a lasting monument of 
his failure. He came to Britain panting for re* 
nown — he resolved to reduce the whole island to hig 



OCCUPATIONS OF SEVERUS. 377 

subjection — to make the sea-girt cliffs of Northern 
Caledonia his barrier. The efforts which he put 
forth were worthy of his resolve — ■' In a word,' says 
Dion Cassius> ' Severus lost fifty thousand men there, 
and yet quitted not his enterprise.' Were the aban- 
donment of the Wall of Antonine, and the with- 
drawal of the frontier to the southern Isthmus, where 
Hadrian, eighty years before, had prudently fixed it, 
the glorious results of all his aspirations ? Spartian 
assuredly errs, if not in saying that Severus built the 
Wall, at least in stating that this was the great boast 
of his reign. 

When, too, we may ask, did he build the Wall ? 
not assuredly when he issued forth on the expedition 
that was to win him so much renown, and which oc- 
cupied him the greater part of the time he was in 
Britain. He was then bent upon aggression, not 
defence. Neither is it probable that he would do it 
on his return. According to Spartian, he had at that 
time proved himself not only victorious, but the 
founder of eternal peace, and thus had removed all 
ground for apprehension in the direction of Caledo- 
nia. Or, on the other hand, according to the more 
accurate and trustworthy historians, Herodian and 
Dion Cassius, he was returning worn out with dis- 
ease and the endless fatigues he had sustained ; 
chagrined at the havoc which the islanders had made 
in his army, though they uniformly refused to hazard 
a general engagement ; and broken-hearted at the 
misconduct and ingratitude of his sons, and so would, 
we may suppose, have been deficient in the spirit 

3 B 



378 POPULAR OPINION. 

and the means to embark in so large a work. That 
he should have repaired some of the stations, parti- 
cularly those upon the line of his march, when about 
to enter upon what he hoped to be the crowning 
enterprise of his life, and that he should have 
maintained garrisons in them to make good his com- 
munications with the south, is not only probable, 
but is rendered almost certain by the inscriptions 
which several of them have yielded ; but that, in 
such circumstances, he should have planned and 
executed the whole line of the Wall, its castles 
and turrets, and several of the stations, is almost 
incredible. 

But it may be asked, if Hadrian formed the whole 
Barrier, how is it that the popular voice should as- 
cribe the most important part of it not to him, but 
to Severus ? That the Wall is generally called by 
the name of Severus, is at once admitted. So long 
ago as the reign of Elizabeth, Spencer wrote — 

Next there came Tyne, along whose stony bank 
That Roman monarch built a brazen wall, 
Which mote the feebled Britons strongly flank 
Against the Picts, that swarmed over all, 
Which yet thereof Gualsever they do call. 

Popular testimony, apart from the authentic records 
of history, is of value for our present purpose only so 
far as it is the traditional statement of the knowledge of 
those who lived when the event took place. The 
nearer to its source that we trace a tradition, the clearer 
and more unequivocal it will become, if it have its ori- 
gin in truth. The popular opinion that Severus built 



bede's testimony. 379 

the Wall, will not stand this test. Whatever value 
may be attached to the testimony of Gildas, the first 
British historian, it is not denied that he records cor- 
rectly the hear-say evidence of his day. He does 
not mention Severus, but tells us, that after the de- 
parture of the Romans, the Britons, distressed by 
the Picts and Scots, sought the assistance of their 
former conquerors, and at their suggestion, and with 
their assistance, raised first a wall of turf, and after- 
wards, when that was found insufficient, a wall of 
stone. The narrative of Gildas has been already 
given, (p. 29.) 

Bede refers to the opinion that Severus built the 
stone Wall, only to refute it ; he says — 

Severus was drawn into Britain by the revolt of almost all 
the confederate tribes ; and, after many great and dangerous 
battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island which he 
had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a 
wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made 
of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel 
the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and 
raised above the ground all around like a wall, having in front 
of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes 
of wood fixed upon its top. Thus Severus drew a great ditch 
and strong rampart, fortified with several towers, from sea to 
sea ; and was afterwards taken sick, and died at York. 

He then repeats Gildas' account of the origin of 
the Wall, and adds — ' that it was not far from the 
trench of Severus.' 

These quotations are made simply to prove, that 
the testimony of tradition, at a period not long sub- 
sequent to the departure of the Romans, was by no 



380 TRADITION IN ERROR. 

means decisive ; no stress ought, therefore, now to be 
laid upon it. 

The popular report, which ascribes the building of 
the Wall to Severus, is the less worthy of credit, 
inasmuch as it imputes to him also the building of 
the northern Barrier, which we know was the work 
of Lollius Urbicus, in the reign of Antonine. Pink- 
erton says, ' As to the Welsh name of Gual Sever, 
which it is said they give to the Wall in the North 
of England, it is also given to that between the 
Firths of Scotland.' 9 A small grave-stone, which was 
discovered in Falkirk church-yard, in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the Antonine Wall, about the year 
1815, confirms the testimony of Pinkerton upon this 
point. The inscription, a cast of which I have seen, 
records the burial there, in the reign of Fergus II., 
of 'a knight, Rob. Graham, who first threw down the 
Wall of Severus' (ille eversvs vall. sever). If 
popular opinion has erred with reference to the one 
Wall, it may have erred with respect to the other also. 7 " 

But we ought not to expect minute accuracy in a 
tradition transmitted through many generations. It 
is enough that the general impress of the truth 
remains. It is nothing surprising, that, after the 
lapse even of a century or two, the name of Severus 
should have been connected with every military 
stronghold in the northern section of the island. As 

$ Piskerton's Inquiry into the History of Scotland, i. 55. 

r I do Dot, however, find that the Antonine Wall is now known 
in the pistrict by the name of Severus 5 Wall. 



COMMEMORATIVE SLABS. 381 

having inflicted the last and heaviest blow upon it, 
his hated memory would be the longest retained. 

In the absence of any decisive testimony from 
the historians of Rome, respecting the emperor who 
upreared the Mums, we may next examine the in- 
scribed stones which have been found upon it. 

In some instances, inscriptions attached to Roman 
buildings give their history with great particularity. 
This is the case with the Antonine Wall in Scotland. 
Slabs inserted at intervals, record the name of the 
reigning emperor, of his legate, of the troops en- 
gaged upon the work, and also the number of paces 
executed by each detachment. Unfortunately these 
commemorative slabs are of rare occurrence in 
the Lower Barrier, and the information given by 
such as do exist, is very scanty. This will appear 
the more surprising, if we bear in mind that the 
English Wall is not only twice as long as the other, 
but is built of stone throughout ; the Scotch Wall 
is chiefly formed of earth. On the theory, that 
Hadrian reared all the members of the Barrier, the 
paucity of inscriptions admits of easy explanation. 
The custom of raising these memorials did not 
commence until his day, and at the time of the 
erection of the Wall was probably in its infancy; the 
practice was in vogue during the reigns of several of 
his successors, and was not discontinued until after 
the time of Caracalla. If, on the other hand, 
Severus built the Wall, it is a most unaccountable 
thing that his soldiers have left no record of the fact 
upon the line of the Wall itself, and but very scanty 



382 PAUCITY OF INSCRIPTIONS TO SEVERUS. 

traces of his name even in the out-stations. This is 
the more remarkable, when we remember that 
the Wall was built by the same legions as were em- 
ployed upon the Vallum of the Upper Barrier. The 
Antonine Wall was constructed by the twentieth 
legion and by vexillations of the second, and sixth. 
On the mural line of the Lower Barrier we frequent- 
ly meet with stones inscribed with the names and 
insignia of the second, and sixth, legion, and oc- 
casionally with those of the twentieth. If the 
English Wall was built in A.D. 210, as is generally 
stated, how is it that the troops disregarded a cus- 
tom so natural and so laudable as that which was 
practised so extensively by their predecessors, in 
A.D. 140? Extensive repairs were made by Cara- 
calla at Habitancum, Bremenium, and some other 
stations ; of these we have distinct records in the 
inscriptions which remain. How is it, if the mind 
and hand of his father gave being to the magnificent 
fence of the English isthmus, that not one of the 
many stones which he upreared records the fact? 
Mural slabs and contemporary historians are alike 
silent upon the subject, and, probably, for the simple 
reason that Severus did not build it. 

It will serve the purposes of truth to cite all the 
instances in which the name of either emperor has 
been found upon the line ; wood-cuts of all to which 
I have had access, have been already presented to 
the reader. 

The name of Hadrian occurs in many instances. 
At Jarrow a stone was found, and is figured in Brand, 



INSCRIPTIONS NAMING HADRIAN. 383 

which was inscribed omnivm fil. hadriani. In the 
foundations of the castellum at Milking-gap a stone 
was discovered (p. 234), bearing in bold letters the 
name of the emperor, and of his legate Aulus Platorius 
Nepos. A.t Chesterholm a fragment of a precisely 
similar inscription was found (p. 241). In the neigh- 
bourhood of Bradley, two fragments were discovered, 
which, when placed together, give us an accurate 
copy of the same inscription (p. 232). In the ruins 
of the castellum near Cawfields, was a portion of 
another, with a precisely similar inscription (p. 251) ; 
and near the eastern gateway of iEsicA a large tablet 
was dug up, bearing the name of the same emperor 
(p. 256). In an outhouse, which probably occupies 
the site of a castellum, at Chapel-house, in Cumber- 
land, a stone was found, which mentions Hadrian and 
the twentieth legion (p. 274). Horsley describes a 
slab which he saw at Bewcastle, bearing the following 
inscription — 

IMP. CAES. IRAIANO 

HADRIANO AVG. 

LEG, II AVG. ET XX V. 

LICINIO PRISCO 

LEG. AVG. PR. PR. 

In Gough's Camden, a stone, inscribed to Hadrian 
by the second legion, is stated to have been found at 
Middleby ; and at Moresby we have the fine slab 
now at Whitehaven castle (p. 367). 

It will perhaps be said that these inscriptions 
prove nothing beyond the universally admitted facts, 
that many of the stations existed in Hadrian's day, 



384 INSCRIPTIONS TO SEVERUS. 

and that the Vallum was raised by him. The reply- 
to this is, that several of them have been found at a 
distance from any station, and on the line of the 
Wall itself, and that too, in positions where it is far- 
ther removed than usual from the Vallum. The occur- 
rence of three or four of them in mile-castles, seems to 
prove that they owed their position there to no ac- 
cidental circumstance, and no one will deny that 
these mile-towers were contemporaneous with the 

Wall. 

The force of these remarks will more clearly ap- 
pear after ascertaining what inscriptions bear the 
name of Severus. If we turn to the inquiry with the 
impression that he built the more important member 
of the Barrier, we might expect to find the evidences 
of the activity which prevailed in his day more 
abundant than in the time of Hadrian. Such, how- 
ever, is not the fact. The one at Hexham (p. 340) 
was the only inscription to Severus which was known 
to Gordon and Horsley. Well might Gordon, who 
maintained the Septimian theory, denominate it — ' a 
very precious jewel of antiquity.' Hexham is nearly 
four miles south of the Wall. To this must be ad- 
ded the altar discovered at Old Carlisle (p. 360), 
which is about ten miles distant from the Wall j 
and another in a dilapidated state, found at the same 
place ; and the gateway slab found at Habitancum 
(p. 315), one of the castra exploratorum nearly ten 
miles in advance of the Wall, recording the restora- 
tion of part of the fortifications there. Besides these, 
I know not of any inscriptions to Severus. I pur- 



THE GELT QUARRY. 385 

posely omit all reference to an altar, said to have 
been discovered at Netherby, bearing the inscription 

SEPT. SEVERO IMP. QVI MVRVM HVNC CONDIDIT, be- 
cause, both Gordon and Horsley pronounce it to be 
spurious. 

Much importance is attached by those who advo- 
cate the claims of Severus to the inscription on the 
face of the ancient quarry, on the river Gelt. Here, 
it may be said, is the very spot from which the 
stones of the Wall were taken, and the precise 
date is fixed — the consulship of Aper and Maximus. 
That the quarry was used by the Romans at this 
period, is not a matter of dispute, but it is very 
questionable whether much of the stone from it was 
used in the building of the Wall, because, suitable 
materials could be procured nearer at hand. The 
year in which Aper and Maximus were consuls was 
A.D. 207 ; the year in which, according to the re- 
ceived reckoning, Severus came to Britain, was that 
in which Geta and Caracalla were consuls, A.D. 208/ 
It is not likely that Severus would order the stones 
to be quarried before his arrival in Britain. But, 
allowing that the chronology of Severus' reign is to 
be received with some latitude, and granting that he 
had landed in Britain in A.D. 207, some time would 
necessarily elapse in making inquiries into the state 
of the country, and no inconsiderable period would 
be occupied in making surveys, even after the con- 
struction of the Wall had been determined on. The 

* See chronological tables of Roman History in Smith's Diction^ 
ary of Biography and Mythology. 

3 c 



386 hadrian's quarries. 

quarry has probably been wrought for some ordina- 
ry purpose, perhaps for the erection of some build- 
ings in the station near Brampton, at the period in 
question. 

Evidence is not wanting to prove, on the other 
hand, that quarries near the line of the Roman 
Wall were wrought in the time of Hadrian. In 
an old quarry near the top of Borcum, or Barcombe 
(a hill near the village of Thorngrafton, and opposite 
to the station of Borcovicus), a large number of 
Roman coins was found. They are described and 
figured in the last Part of this work. Since none 
of the pieces of this hoard were later than the time 
of Hadrian, and the coins of his reign and Trajan's 
were peculiarly fresh, it is agreed that the trea- 
sure must have been deposited in Hadrian's time. 
The quarry on Haltwhistle-fell (p. 81), it will also 
be remembered, bore the name of the sixth legion, 
which, if the reasoning in the next paragraph be 
admitted, will appear to have been inscribed before 
the arrival of Severus in Britain. 

It has already been observed that numerous stones 
along the line bear, without any addition, the names 
of the second legion, the sixth, and the twentieth. 
There can be no doubt that these legions and their 
vexillations executed the principal part of the Work. 
The main bodies of these forces, however, had their 
head-quarters, at the time of the arrival of Severus, 
in districts of the country southward of the Barrier 
line. The second legion, after the building of the 
Antonine Wall, appears to have gone to Carleon, in 



MOVEMENTS OF THE LEGIONS. 387 

South Wales, the Isca of the Romans. The sixth 
legion removed to York before A.D. 190, where 
it continued as long as the Romans remained 
in the island. Horsley, speaking of the inscrip- 
tions on the Wall which mention this legion, 
says, ' some of them, from the characters and other 
circumstances, may be supposed as ancient as Ha- 
drian's reign.' The twentieth legion had taken up 
its abode at Chester, the Deva of the Romans, as 
early as the year 1 54. Though it is probable that 
Septimius Severus may have taken detachments of 
these legions with him in his Scottish campaign, it 
is not likely that he would withdraw the main 
bodies from forts of such importance ; and those which 
did accompany him would find the discharge of their 
military duties sufficiently onerous, without engaging 
in a work so vast as the building of the Wall. 

But, after all, the works themselves furnish us 
with the best proof that the whole is one design, and 
the production of one period. It is difficult to con- 
ceive how any person can traverse the line of the 
Barrier without coming to the conclusion, that all 
the works — Vallum, Wall and fosse, turrets, castles, 
stations, and outposts — are but so many parts of one 
great design, essential to each other, and unitedly 
contributing to the security of a dangerous frontier. 
The Murus and the Vallum throughout their whole 
course pursue tracks harmonizing with each other ; 
the Murus, however, selecting those acclivities from 
which an attack from the north can be best re- 
pulsed — the Vallum, those from which aggression 



388 stukeley's testimony. 

from the south can be repelled. Stukeley was unable 
to resist the evidence of his senses. Speaking of the 
works in the neighbourhood of Carvoran, he says — 

I suppose this Wall built by Severus is generally set upon 
the same track as Hadrian's Wall or Vallum of earth was ; 
for, no doubt, they there chose the most proper ground ; but 
there is a Vallum and ditch all the way accompanying the 
Wall, and on the south side of it ; and likewise studiously 
choosing the southern declivity of the rising ground. I observe, 
too, the Vallum (Wall?) is always to the north. It is 
surprising that people should fancy this to be Hadrian's Val- 
lum ; it might possibly be Hadrian's work, but may be called 
the line of contravallation ; for, in my judgment, the true in- 
tent, both of Hadrians Vallum and Severus's Wall, was, 
in effect, to make a camp extending across the kingdom ; 
consequently, was fortified both ways, north and south : 
at present, the Wall was the north side of it ; that called 
Hadrian's work, the south side of it ; hence we may well 
suppose all the ground of this long camp, comprehended be- 
tween the Wall and the southern rampire, was the property 
of the soldiers that guarded the Wall. — Iter Boreale, p. 59. 

Speaking of the works westward of Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, he says — 

The Vallum runs parallel to the Wall, but upon the declin- 
ing ground south, as the other north ; this confirms me in 
my suspicion, that both works were made at the same time, 
and by the same persons, and with intent that this should be 
a counter-guard to the other, the whole included space being 
military ground. — Iter Boreale, 66. 

The reader needs scarcely to be reminded of the 
striking illustration of these remarks which is fur- 
nished by the appearance of the works a little to the 
west of Carrhill, and by the fact, that for nearly ten 



RELATIVE POSITION OF THE WORKS. 389 

miles in the middle of their course, the Vallum is 
commanded by the heights on which the Wall stands. 
Whenever the distance between the Wall and 
Vallum varies, it is generally with some obvious 
design in view. Thus, as Hodgson, who powerfully 
supports the view here taken, remarks — 

The Vallum and Murus always contract the width of 
the interval between them as they approach a river, ap- 
parently for no other purpose than a close protection of the 
military way, and the defence of one bridge ; for if they had 
passed the brooks and rivers on their line at any considerable 
distance from each other, two bridges would have been ne- 
cessary, and two sets of guards to defend them : and here it 
is not unimportant to remark, that the Murus always takes 
that brow of the ridge it traverses, w T hich is precipitous to 
the north, and never deserts its straightest or most defensible 
course to find a convenient situation for a bridge, while the 
Vallum almost invariably bends inwards as it approaches a 
bridge, and diverges outwards as it leaves it. — Hist. Nor. II. \\\. 

Horsley's plan of the Barrier between Cilurnum 
and Magna, which is copied on Plate II., will afford 
several examples of the truth of these remarks. 

The position of the Vallum and Murus, in relation 
to the stations, furnishes additional evidence. The 
Murus usually forms the northern wall of the sta- 
tion, or comes up to the northern cheek of its east- 
ern and western gates, while the Vallum protects 
its southern rampart, or comes up to the lower 
side of its doorways. The two lines give complete 
protection to the camps, and to the roads leading to 
and from them. On the supposition that the Val- 
lum is an independent fortification, and that it was 



390 SEVERUS REPAIRED THE WALL. 

constructed nearly a century before the Wall was 
thought of, we must concede that its plan was such 
as to give the stations the least possible support, to 
leave them, in short, in a great measure exposed to 
the enemy. The manner in which the two walls 
combine in giving strength to a station, is very well 
shewn in Warburton's plan of the works in the vi- 
cinity of Cilurnum (Plate II). It is scarcely pos- 
sible to deny the justice of the remark, which he 
appends to the title — ' A Plan of Cilurnum . . with 
part of the Plan of Severus' Wall and Hadrian's 
Vallum, shewing how they are connected at the sta- 
tions, and by their mutual relation to one another, must 
have been one entire united defence or fortification' 
It is not improbable that Severus may have re- 
paired some portions of the Wall, and perhaps added 
some few subsidiary defences. Richard of Ciren- 
cester gives us correct information upon several 
points connected with Roman Britain, which we do 
not learn from other authors ; it is not unlikely that 
his view of the subject of our present study may be 
the correct one. He says — 

About this time the emperor Hadrian, visiting this island, 
erected a Wall, justly wonderful, and left Julius Severus his 

deputy in Britain Virius Lupus did not perform 

many splendid actions, for his glory was intercepted by the 
unconquerable Severus, who, having rapidly put the enemy to 
flight, repaired the Wall of Hadrian, now become ruinous, 
and restored it to its former perfection. Had he lived, he in- 
tended to extirpate the very name of the barbarians. 

The supposition that Hadrian built the Wall, is 
consistent with the accounts which historians give 



HADRIAN A GREAT BUILDER. 391 

us of his attachment to architectural undertakings. 
One writer, of great research, says of him — 

No prince, perhaps, ever raised so many public and private 
edifices as Hadrian. In every city of note, throughout the 
empire, some erection perpetuated his memory : bridges, 
aqueducts, temples, and palaces, rose on every hand. Many 
cities, likewise, were either wholly built or repaired by him. 
Building seems, indeed, to have been a main feature in his sys- 
tem of government. He was the first who appointed that each 
cohort should have its quota of masons, architects, and all 
kinds of workmen needed for the erection and adornment of 
public edifices. — Hist. Borne, Tract Soc. London 277. 

It is perhaps needless to pursue the subject fur- 
ther. More might easily be said ; but I was unwil- 
ling, on a point of so much importance, to say less. 
The reader will not fail to perceive what an 
impressive view the works of the mural barrier, 
considered as one vast scheme, and not as a series 
of after-thoughts, give of the mighty conceptions 
and energies of imperial Rome. 

In taking leave of those renowned men, Hadrian 
and Severus, it may be allowable to advert to the 
testimony which, before departing this life, they are 
said to have given as to the vanity of all earthly things. 
Hadrian, who used to say, that an emperor should 
be like the sun, visiting all the regions of the earth, 
found himself then, in darkness. His knowledge of 
the Eleusinian mysteries gave him no peace ; he 
addressed his soul in these words : — 

Animula, vagula, blandula 

Hospes, comesque corporis 

Quse nunc abibis in loca 

Pallidula, rigida, nudula ? 

Nee ut soles dabis joca. 



392 



DEATH OF HADRIAN AND SEVERUS. 



These lines are thus happily imitated by Prior 

Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing, 

Must we no longer live together ? 
And dost thou prune thy trembling wing, 

To take thy flight thou know'st not whither \ 
Thy humorous vein, thy pleasing folly, 

Lies all neglected, all forgot ; 
And, pensive, wavering, melancholy, 

Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what. 

Severus' restless pursuit after happiness was 
equally vain. His dying words are said to have 
been, ' Omnia fui et nihil expedif— I have tried 
everything, and found nothing of any avail. What 
a contrast to the language addressed to him by the 
Ethiopian soldier — ' Thou hast been everything — 
conquered everything : now, conqueror, be a god !' 




Cf)e &oman Carrier of tf)e 



PART VI. 

MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON THE LINE OF THE WALL. 







O S T apposite is the remark 
of Dr. Johnson, that 
'Whatever withdraws 
us from the power 
of our senses ; whatever 
makes the past, the dis- 
tant, or the future pre- 
dominate over the present, advances us in the dig- 
nity of thinking beings.' Few things are so well 
calculated to produce this effect, as the altars and 
lettered tablets that have been left on our soil by the 
Romans. When we but glance at them, who is not 
moved at the reflection, that they were chiselled by 

3 D 



394 LETTERED STONES. 

hands which for so many centuries have mould- 
ered nerveless in the dust ! 

Still on its march, unnoticed and unfelt 

Moves on our being. We do live and breathe, 

And we are gone ! The spoiler heeds us not ; 

We have our spring-time and our rottenness; 

And as we fall, another race succeeds 

To perish likewise. Kirke White. 

On proceeding to decipher the antique records, 
our emotions are more varied and more intense. 
The old Roman seems to arise from the tomb, 
and to reveal his modes of thought and prin- 
ciples of action. His breast heaves ; his heart is 
laid bare. In lines which his own fingers have 
carved, the gods before whom he trembled are de- 
clared. Looking on the very altar at which he knelt, 
we almost seem to see ' the mean man bowing down, 
and the great man humbling himself/ 

The region of the Wall has yielded more inscribed 
stones of the Roman period than any other portion 
of the kingdom. Many of them have already been 
presented to the reader ; a few others will here be 
described. The lettered stones of the mural line 
may be divided into three classes — altars, funereal 
slabs, and centurial stones. 

ALTARS. 

The offering of such sacrifices as were supposed 
to be acceptable to their deities, formed an essen- 
tial part of the religion of the Greeks and Ro- 
mans. Very numerous are the altars which 



PARTS OF AN ALTAR. 



395 



/<^^^IZ^^fe, 




have been discovered on the line of the Wall. 
Many of them are small, some not larger than the 
palm of the hand, rough in the workmanship, and 
without any inscription ; others are of large size, 
and of ornate character. The usual form of them is 

shewn in the annexed 
cut. The inscription is 
on the face of the altar ; 
the base and upper por- 
tion project a little be- 
yond the sides. A small 
cavity on the top called 
the focus, or hearth, re- 
ceived the offering. The 
sides of the altar were 
frequently adorned with carvings representing the 
victims, the implements used in sacrifice, and insig- 
nia of the god. On the altar' before us, we have re- 
presented the prcefericulum, or pitcher, which con- 
tained the wine for the offering ; the patera, a round, 
shallow dish, generally with a handle, which was 
used in throwing a small portion of the wine upon 
the altar ; the securis, or axe, with which the animal 
was slain ; and the culter, or knife, used in flaying or 
dividing it. In the Chesterholm altar, figured p. 240, 
the sacrificial ox is represented ; and on the sides of 
the altar to Jupiter, which is shewn on page 290, the 
thunder-bolt of the god, and the wheel of Nemesis — 

' This small altar was found at Benwell, and is now in the pos- 
session of the Society of Antiquaries, London — it is drawn to twice 
the usual scale. 



396 NATURE OF THE OFFERINGS. 

the emblem of swift vengeance — are given. The 
small size of the focus proves that the offerings pre- 
sented to the deities occupied a very small bulk. 
When an animal was slain, a portion of the entrails 
was often all that fell to the lot of the god. 

Idibus in raagni castus Jovis sede sacerdos 
Semimaris flammis viscera libat ovis." 

Ovid's Fasti, i- 587. 

Frequently the offering consisted of a little barley- 
meal, some fruit, some frankincense, or chips of fra- 
grant wood, with wine or milk. Occasions of sac- 
rifice were often times of merry-making. The 
slain victim and the dedicated wine formed the 
ready materials of a feast. Ovid sarcastically re- 
presents an old woman performing the rites due to 
the goddess of Silence ; upon her offering (three 
grains of incense) she allows a few drops of wine to 
fall, and assisted by her companions, though needing 
little help, she drinks up the remainder, departing 
from her devotions tipsy, and anything but taciturn, 

JCece anus annosa, 

Et digitis tria thura tribus sub limine ponit 

Vina quoque instillat. Yini, quodcumque relictum est, 

Aut ipsa, aut coniites, plus tamen ipsa, bibit. 

ebriaque exit anus. 

Fasti, ii. 571. 

As might be expected, many altars are dedicated to 
Jupiter, the king and father, as he was styled, of gods 
and men. The wood-cut represents a very fine one, 
which was found in the station at Chesterholm, 

« On the ides the undented priest in the temple of the great 
Jove offers in the flames the entrails of a wether. 



ALTAR TO JUPITER. 397 

and is now preserved under the piazza of the House. 




STOREW.DEL 



To Jupiter, best and greatest, 

And to the rest of the 

Immortal gods, 

And the genius of the pretorium, 

Quintus Petronius [Urbicus. 

Son of Quintus, of the Fabian family, surnamed 

Prefect of the Fourth cohort 

Of the Gauls, 

From Italy, and 

Of a house of Brixia, 

Performed a tow 

For himself 

And family. 

Two lines have been purposely erased, perhaps in 



l[0Vl] OPTIMO] M[AXIM0] 

ceterisqtte 

bus immort[alibvs] 

ET GEN[l0] PRAETOR[ll] 

q[vintvs] petronivs 

q[vinti] f[iliys] fab[ia] vrbicys 

praef[ectvs] coh[ortis] IIII 

GALLORUM 
EX ITALIA 
DOMO BRIXIA 
VOTVM SOLVIT 

PRO SE 

AC SVIS 



398 POLYTHEISM OF ROME. 

consequence of some error committed by the 
sculptor. The town of Brixia, the modern Brescia, 
is situated on a feeder of the Po. Petronius, it 
would appear, still remembered, and doubtless with 
affection, his former home in sunny Italy. Storks 
adorn both sides of the altar ; the object of their 
introduction is rather doubtful. In the Rising- 
ham slab, now at Cambridge, to which reference 
has already been made (p. 332), a cock is associated 
with the figure of Mars, and a stork with that of 
Victory. Can the stork have been the emblem of vic- 
tory, as the cock was of the god of war ? The power- 
ful wing and stately motions of this bird render it a 
fitting emblem of the goddess whose favours Petro- 
nius must often have sought. The inscription is 
distinct, and strikingly displays the polytheism of the 
Romans. Petronius associates with Jupiter, not 
only all the immortal gods, but the genius of the 
pretorium also. 

Not only were the superior deities and invisible 
genii blended in one invocation, but mortal men 
were not unfrequently associated with the greatest 
of the gods on the same altar. This is the case in 
one already described (p. 63). Quintus Verius, on 
an altar found at Housesteads, calls upon Jupiter, 
the best and greatest, together with ' the deities of 
Augustus.' The emperor himself is probably in- 
tended by this phrase, not the gods whom the em- 
peror worshipped. The use of the noun in the 
plural number, numina, is not opposed to this view. 
Horsley remarks that numina is frequently, in classi- 
cal writers, applied to a particular deity ; thus we 



MARYPORT ALTAR. 



399 



have numina Dtance in Horace, and numina Phcebi 
in Virgil. The emperors, we know, were frequently 
worshipped as gods. The Mantuan bard, addressing 
Augustus, has no doubt of his divinity, though he 
knows not what region to assign to his especial care; 

. . . urbesne invisere, Csesar, 

Terrarumque velis curam ; 

An deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae 
Numina sola colant Georg. I. 25. 

An altar, which is not less remarkable for the or- 




UTTINUS" 1 



nate character of its decorations, than for the strik- 
ing display which it affords of the polytheism of 



400 MARYPORT ALTAR. 

the Romans, was found in the camp at Maryport, 
and is now in the possession of the earl of Lons- 
dale, at Whitehaven Castle. An accurate repre- 
sentation is given of it in the preceding engraving. 

genio loci To the Genius of the place, 

fortvn>e reuvce To returning Fortune, 

ROM.E aetern^e To eternal Rome, 

et fato bono And to propitious fate, 

g[aivs1 cornelivs Gaius Cornelius 

peregrinvs Peregrinus, 

tribfvnvs] cohor[tis] Tribune of a cohort, 

ex provincia From the province of 

mavr[itani.e] c,£SA[RiENsis] Mauritania Csesariensis, 



DOMOS E 



The lower lines of the inscription of this altar are 
much injured ; they probably refer to the restoration of 
some buildings. The upper portion is sufficiently 
plain. Peregrinus addresses first the deity of the 
place over which his arms had triumphed ; lest 
the local god should not smile benignantly, he 
resorts to Fortune, who had conducted him safely to 
the land of his adoption ; if this deity should fail him, 
he thinks to find a refuge in the genius of the eternal 
city ; but driven from this resource, there is nothing 
for it, but to trust to fate or chance. 

On the back of this altar (which as it is at present 
placed at Whitehaven Castle, cannot be seen), are 
inscribed the words, volanti vivas. This was pro- 
bably the expression of the good wishes of some 
party for his friend, inscribed for greater efficacy on 
the sacred stone ; and may be translated, Volantius, 
long may you live ! 



Altars to mars. 



401 




Mars is occasionally addressed, though not so 
frequently as we might expect in a chain of mural 
garrisons. Two small altars dedicated to him have 
already been introduced. On several altars, chiefly 
found in Cumberland, he is addressed by the name 
of Cocidius. One which was found at 
Bank's-head, and is now preserved at 
Lanercost Priory, is here introduced. 
An altar found at Lancaster bearing 
the inscription, deo sancto marti 
cocidio, is the authority for suppos- 
ing that Cocidius was a name of Mars. 
The altar before us has been dedicated 
by the soldiers of the twentieth legion, 
surnamed the Valiant and Victorious ; 
the boar, the badge of the legion, is at 
the bottom of the altar. It appears also that Mars 
was sometimes styled Belatucadrus, the expression 
deo marti belatucadro being found upon some 
altars ; the altars to Belatucadrus are, however, con- 
— ^ fined to Cumberland. One of them is here 
given. It was found at Walton Castlesteads, 
where it still remains. The letters are 
rudely carved, and the last two lines not 
very intelligible. The name Belatucadrus 
( or Belatucader is derived from the words 
Baal and Cadir; and probably means — - 
The invincible or omnipotent Baal. The fact that 
Baal, the great idol of the east, found votaries in 
Britain shews how easy it is to propagate error. 
It was the practice of the Romans to adopt the 

3 E 



.40 
VGA 



MINE, 



402 



MINERVA. 



deities of the countries which they subdued, and 
they may be supposed to have sought to amalgamate 
with their own god of war, the corresponding divi- 
nity worshipped in that part of Britain where these 
altars were reared. 

The worship of Minerva was not neglected by the 
soldiers of the Wall. The wood-cut exhibits an 
altar to the virgin goddess, which 
was found in the station at Ro- 
chester ; it is now at Alnwick 
Castle. Several others exist. Sci- 
ence is required in the arts of 
war as well as peace. The vic- 
tory which mere daring achieved, 
was by the Greeks and Romans 
ascribed to the intervention of 
Mars ; that which was the result 
of skilful strategy to the influence 
of Minerva. This altar was con- 
secrated by Julius Carantus. 

Fortune was one of the favourite deities of Rome. 
The great confidence which the Romans placed in 
her is expressed in the story related by Plutarch, 
that on entering Rome she put off her wings and 
shoes, and threw away her globe, as she intended to 
take up her permanent abode among the Romans. 
Several altars addressed to Fortune have been 
found on the line of the Wall. One of the most 
remarkable is shewn in the annexed cut. It was 
found in a building in the south-east corner of the 
station at Risingham, and is now in the Museum of 




FORTUNA. 



403 



Antiquities, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The great pecu- 
liarity of it is, that the projecting base of the altar 
is provided with a focus, and that on the pro- 




jection the inscription is repeated. It reads — 

To Fortune 

Sacred 

Valerius 

Longinus 



FORTVNAE 

BACRVM 
VALERIVS 
LONGINVS 

tribIvnvsj Tribune. 



The altar, when in its original position, was raised 
by means of two courses of masonry considerably 
above the level of the ground. The object of the 



404 



MITHRAS, 



second focus is a matter of conjecture. According 
to the grammarians, allure (alia ara, high altar) was 
dedicated only to the gods above, whilst the ara was 
both lower, and employed in sacrificing to the gods 
below as well as those above. Can Fortune have 
been viewed in the double capacity of a superior and 
inferior divinity, and can the tribune, Valerius 
Longinus, have sought to secure the favour of the 
powerful deity both in this life and the one to come ! 
Several of the altars found on the line of the Wall 
are dedicated to the god Mithras. Milra, it appears, 




tB. UTTING s* 



is one of the names for the sun in Sanscrit ; and that 



WORSHIP OF THE SUN. 



405 



Mithras was, by the Romans, identified with the sun, 
is clearly proved by many of the inscriptions on the 
altars of that deity. One, found in the Mithraic cave 
at Housesteads, and which is now at Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, is figured on the former page. The in- 
scription upon it may be read thus ; — 

deo To the god 

soli invi The Sun the in- 

cto mytr^e vincible Mithras 

saecvlari The Lord of ages 

litorivs Litorius 

pacatianvs Pacatianus 

bieneMiciarivs] cos. pro A consular beneficiary ; for 

se et svis v[otvm] s[olvit] himself and family discharges a vow 

l[ibens] m[erito] Willingly and deservedly. 

Another small and roughly-cut altar procured from 
the same place, and also now at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, has a figure of the sun on its 
capital : Hodgson reads the inscrip- 
tion in this manner — Hieronymus, 
performing a vow, freely and duly 
dedicates this to the sun. 

When we contemplate the power- 
ful and beneficial influence of the 
sun, we cannot be surprised that the 
worship of this luminary, especially % 
in the east, constituted the first form of idolatry — 

To solemnize this day, the glorious sun 
Stays in his course, and plays the alchemist ; 
Turning, with splendour of his precious eye, 
The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold. 

The various ceremonies which were observed in 




406 



WORSHIP OF MITHRAS. 



the worship of Mithras, are supposed to have been 
emblematic of the different influences exercised 
by the sun upon vegetable and animal life. The 
notices which we have of the meaning of these 
emblems are, however, a mass of mysticism and ab- 
surdity. The god is commonly represented as a 
youth wearing the Phrygian cap and attire, and 
kneeling on a bull thrown on the ground, the 
throat of which he is cutting. He is usually accom- 
panied by two attendants, the one 
bearing an uplifted torch, represent- 
ing the sun in the vernal equinox, 
ascending to the zenith of his power, 
the other, an extinguished torch, 
resting on the ground, emblematic 
of the orb of day, when hastening 
to the winter solstice. The wood- 
cut here introduced exhibits one of 
these figures (now at Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne), which was found in 
the cave at Housesteads. 

The Mithraic worship was introduced into the 
western world, from Persia, about the time of Julius 
Caesar, and speedily spread over all parts of the 
empire. It appears to have outlived other forms 
of idolatry in Europe. Its favourers seem to have 
abandoned polytheism ; on the line of the Wall at 
least, the name of Mithras is not combined with 
that of any other deity. This circumstance, together 
with the laborious, though vain, researches of its 
philosophical supporters, recommended it to those 




MITHRAIC CAVE. 



407 



who rejected the pure and simple truths of Chris- 
tianity. 

Another of the Housesteads altars to Mithras 
is here figured. It is inscribed — 

D[EO] OrPTIMO] M[AXIM03 
INVICTO MYT 
KM SAECVLARI 
PVBLLIVS] PROCVLI 
NVS CEENTVRIO] PRO SE 
ET PROCVLO FILCIO] 
SVO V. S. L. M. 




D.D. (dominis)'N .N .(notfra)GALLO ET 
VOLVSINO COi'N]S[VLIBVS] 

To the god best and greatest 
The invincible Mith- 
ras, lord of ages, 
Publius Proculi- 
nus, Centurion, for himself 
And Proculus his son, 
his vow freely and deservedly pays. 



Our lords Gallus and 
Volusinus being consuls. 

The temples of Mithras generally consisted of a 
cave, or a small building from which the light was 
excluded. A cave was adopted, 'because/ says Por- 
phyry, l a cave is the image and symbol of the world/ 
and it was dark, 6 because the essence of the virtues 
is obscure.' All who sought the favour of this god 
were subjected to a long course of painful initiatory 
disipline. Nonnius, a Greek poet, says — 

No one can be admitted into his mysteries, unless he has 
previously undergone all the punishments, the number of 
which they say is eighty, some of them of the gentler sort, 



408 MITHRAIC RITES. 

others more severe. The milder are undergone first, then the 
severer ; and after the whole course is gone through, they 
are initiated. Fire and water are the sorts of punishment 
which they endure. These torments are said to be inflicted 
to produce examples of piety and greatness of mind under 
sufferings. After they have been many days in water, they 
cast themselves into fire ; then live in desert places, and there 
subdue the cravings of hunger ; and thus, as we have said, 
the aspirant goes through the whole course of eighty tor- 
ments ; which if he survive, then he is initiated into the mys- 
teries of Mithras. 

Human sacrifices seem to have been used in 
the worship of Mithras. Photius, in his life of 
Athanasius, asserts that there was a Greek temple 
in Alexandria, in which, in ancient times, the Greeks 
performed sacred rites to Mithras, sacrificing men, 
women, and children, and auguring from their en- 
trails. Pliny tells us that in the year of Rome 657, 
a decree of the senate was passed, forbidding the 
immolation of man ; for till that time monstrous 
solemnities were openly celebrated. v The emperor 
Heliogabalus, a native of Syria, styled himself high 
priest of Mithras. His assassination is partly as- 
cribed to the horror with which the people listened 
to the tales of magic rites in which he was con- 
cerned, and of human victims secretly slaughtered. 1 " 

The cave at Housesteads in which the Mithraic 
sculptures were found, was situated in the valley to 
the south of the station. It was discovered in 1822 
by the tenant of the farm in which it stood, who fixed 

Archeeologia JEHana, i. 306. 
w Smith's Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. 



MITHRAIC CAVE. 



409 



upon the spot as one likely to yield him the material 
which he required for building a stone fence hard by. 
The building was square ; its sides faced the cardi^ 
nal points. It had been originally, as was usually 
the case in a Mithraic temple, permeated by a small 
stream* Hodgson, who saw it as soon as it was laid 
bare, says, 'The cave itself seems to have been 
a low contemptible hovel, dug out of a hill side, 
lined with dry walls, and covered with earth or 
straw.' Though the building has been entirely 
removed, a small hollow is left which marks the spot 
where it stood. All the sculptured stones have 
happily been placed in the custody of the Society 
of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Amongst 

them, besides the al- 
tars already given, 
and some which it 
has not been thought 
necessary here to 
engrave, is the cu- 
rious stone shewn in 
the wood-cut. It 
represents Mithras, 
surrounded by the 
zodiac. The signs of 
cancer and libra are 
omitted. The zodi- 
acal tablet assumes 
an egg-like form, 
probably to symbol- 




I.STPS£y-0EL 



ize the principle of generation. The god holds 
a sword in his right hand, and a peculiar spiral 

3 F 



410 



MITHRAIC SYMBOLS. 



object in his left. It more nearly resembles an ear 
of corn than the flame of a torch. We are reminded 

by it of the ornaments re- 
sembling pine apples, which 
are frequently found on the 
line of the Wall ; and were 
probably connected with the 
worship of this deity. The 
example here figured, as well 
as the small altar which accompanies it, was found at 
Housesteads ; both are now preserved at Chesters. 

The accompanying wood-cut represents a subject 
which is supposed to be connected with the Hays- 




's: ^<* 




teries of Mithraic worship. The slab was found at 
Cilurnum, and is now at Alnwick Castle, Though 
not satisfied with Hodgson's description of it, I am 
unable to supply a better. He says ; — 

The sculpture is in two compartments : that on the left 
seems to contain a lion, statant, raising the head of a naked 
and dead man : that on the right, a figure of Mithras seated 
on a bench, and having a flag in one hand, a wand in the 
other, and on its head the Persian tiara. (?) I would hazard a 
conjecture that the whole relates to the Mithraic rites called 
Leontica ; for the lion, in the zodiac of the ancient heathens, 



ALTAR TO APOLLO. 



411 



stood for Mithras, or the sun, which threw its greatest heat 
upon the earth during its course through the constellation Leo. 

Numerous as are the altars on the 
line of the Wall to the Persian god, 
only one has been found dedicated to 
Apollo, the Grecian representative of 
the luminary of day. It was disco- 
vered in the summer of 1850, lying 
near a spring in the vicinity of the 
Cawfield mile-castle, about midway be- 
tween the Wall and the Vallum, and 
is now preserved in the collection of 
antiquities at Chesters. The fol- 
lowing reading must be regarded as, 
in a great measure, conjectural ; no doubt, however, 
can exist as to the deitv to which it is dedicated. 




DEO APOL 

INI ET 0[MNIBVS] N;VMIXIBVJ3 

BINISTTBA] EXPLtORATORYMj 

CVI PR[AEEST] SVLP[ICIV3] 

VOTVM SCOLVIT] 

L.L. (li'ientissime) M[ERITO] 



To the God Apol- 
lo and the other deities, 
The left icing of guides 
Commanded by Sulpicius, 
In discharge of a vow 
Most willingly and deservedly. 



It is believed that this is the only inscription to 
Apollo yet discovered in England, though one at 
least has been found in Scotland. The Roman soldiers 
in Britain were probably not much given to the 
study of the belles lettres, which were under the 
peculiar patronage of the god of the silver bow. 

The next is an inscription of unusual importance. 

Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas ; 
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. 
Jam redit et Virgo. 



412 INSCRIPTION TO THE SYRIAN GODDESS. 




A slab was found at Carvoran in 1816, and is now in 

the castle of Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, which con- 
tains an exposition in 
iambic verse of the creed 
of a Roman tribune 
respecting the mother 
of the gods. Faber re- 
marks, that Ceres, Cy- 
bele, Venus, the Syrian 
goddess Derceto, the 
Phoenician Astarte, and 
the Egyptian Isis, were 
all one and the same 
deity. The inscription, 
which is an unusually long one, is here arranged in 
lines of the length which the scansion requires — 

IMMINET LEONI VIRGO CLELFSTI SITU 

SPICIPERA, JTJSTI INA r ENTRIX, URBIUM CONDITRIX, 

EX QUIS MUNKRIBUS NOSSE CONTIGIT DEOS 

ERGO EADEM MATER DIVUM, PAX, VIRTUS, CERFS, 

DKA SYRIA ; LANCE VITAM ET JURA PENSITANS. 

JN CLELO VISUM STRTA SLDUS EDIDIT, 

LYBI.E COLENDUM INDE CUNCTI DIDICIMUS. 

ITA INTEL,LEXIT, NUMINE INDUCTUS TUO 

MARCUS CJ3CILIUS DONATINUS, MILITANS 

TRIBUNUS IN PRJBFECTO DONO PRINCIPIS. 

The Virgin in her celestial seat overhangs the Lion, 

Producer oi corn, Inventress of right, Foundress ot cities, 

By which functions it has been our good fortune to know the deities; 

Therefore the same Virgin is the Mother of the gods, is Peace, is Virtue, is Ceres, 

Js the Syrian Goddess poising life and laws in a balance, 

The constellation beheld in the sky hath Syria sent forth 

To Lybia to be worshipped, thence have all of us learnt it, 

Thus hath understood, overspread by thy protecting influence, 

Marcus Cascilius Donatinus, a warfaring 

Tribune in the office of prefect, by the bounty of the emperor. 



MINOR DEITIES. 



413 



Cascilius probably prepared this exposition of his 
faith on being admitted into the mysteries of Ceres. 
However unintelligible, we cannot but admire the 
humility and teachable disposition of the tribune. 

Their judge was conscience, and her rule their law, 
That rule, pursued with reverence, and with awe, 
Led them, however faltering, faint and slow, 
From what they knew, to what they wished to know. 
But let not him that shares a brighter day, 
Traduce the splendour of a noontide ray, 
Prefer the twilight of a darker time, 
And deem his base stupidity no crime ! 

A glance at some of the minor, and local deities 
must conclude our review of the gods of the Barrier. 

The deities of Greece and Rome were without num- 
ber. Every fountain and river, every hill and forest, 
had its tutelary deity ; every product of earth, air, or 
sea, its guardian ; every place its genius; every house- 
hold its penates. The antiquities found on the Wall 
furnish us with numerous illustrations of this fact. 
The engraving represents an altar which was found 
at Birdoswald, and is now at Lanercost. 



PEOSVWCE 
;itVANpVB| 
iN-ATORES' 



DEO SANCTO 

SILVAN VE 

NATORES 

banne s.s. (sacraverunt) 

To the holy god 

Siivanus, 

The hunters of 

Banna 

Have consecrated this. 



414 THE NYMPHS. 

Silvanus seems to have presided over woods and 
boundaries. Several altars have been erected to him 
along the line. Forests must at that time have 
covered a great portion of the country, and given 
shelter to beasts of chase worthy of the martial 
prowess of the occupants of the Isthmus. 

A host of female forms, denominated nymphs, 
haunted mountain, valley, and stream. 

When in the Iliad, the father of the gods calls 
together his council, 

Nor of the Floods was any absent thence 
Oceanus except, or of the Nymphs 
Who haunt the pleasant groves, or dwell beside 
Stream-feeding fountains, or in meadows green. 
An interesting altar, dedicated to these deities, was 
found by the side of a spring overlooking the station 
of Habitancum. It is now in the garden of Spencer 
Trevelyan, esq., of Long Witton. 

SOMNIO PRAE 

MONITVS 

MILES HANC 

PONERE IVS 

SIT 

ARAM QVAE 

FABIO NVP 

TA EST NYM 

PHIS VENE 

RANDIS. 

The inscription is roughly cut, but 
quite legible, no contraction is used in it, and no lig- 
ature is admitted, even in the case of diphthongs. 
The construction of the sentence is peculiar, and 




THE GODS OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



415 



admits of two renderings. Taking nupta est to signify 
dedicated, a peculiar use of the word, suggested per- 
haps by its etymological relationship with the one 
which it governs, nymphis, the inscription will read — 

A soldier, warned in a dream, directed the erection of this 
altar, which is dedicated by Fabius to the nymphs to whom 
worship is due. 

The other method of rendering it is the following, — 

A soldier, warned in a dream, directed her (earn supplied) 
who is married to Fabius to erect this altar to the nymphs 
to whom worship is due. 

According to either interpretation the altar was 
erected to the sylphs of the fountain, in consequence 
of a dream. The lively imagination of the Roman 
has invested the humble spring where it originally 
stood with such an air of romance, as to render it a 
matter of regret that the altar does not still grace 
the spot. 

The adjoiningwood-cutrepresents 
a small altar found at Rutchester, 
ViNDOBALA,and now in the Castle of 
Newcastle - upon - Tyne. The in- 
scription reads — To the gods of the 
mountains, Julius Firminus, the 
decurion,* erected this. 
Epona, to whom the next 
altar is dedicated, was the 
protectress of horses ; images of her were 
to be seen in most stables. Juvenal's 
dandy jockey swore by her alone. This 

* Decurion, a commander of a troop of ten men. 





416 



VITKKES. 




Dr. Kitto re- 



altar was found at Carvoran, arid is now in the High 

School of Edinburgh. The accompanying example 

is not the only instance of a toad being 

represented on an altar. This was 

found at Chesters, Cilurnum, where 

it is still preserved. Did the Romans 

stoop so low as to worship reptiles ? 

If so, the superstitious practice has 

probably been derived from the east. 

marks, ' The importance attached to the frog, in some 

parts of Egypt, is shewn by its being embalmed, 

and honoured with sepulture in the tombs of Thebes. 

In the Egyptian mythology, the frog was an emblem 

of man in embryo.' 

Many altars have been found on the line dedi- 
cated to gods unknown to Rome's Pantheon, and 
supposed to have a purely local celebrity. The 
engraving exhibits one of a nu- 
merous class. 2 ' It was discovered 
near Thirlwall Castle about 1757, 
in the course of the formation of 
the military road, and shortly after 
presented to the Society of Anti- 
quaries. Vitres, or Viteres, or Ve- 
teres, is a god whose name is con- 
fined to the north of Britain, 
Hodgson remarks, that Vithris 
was a name of Odin, as we find in the death-song of 
Lodbroc — ' I will approach the courts of Vithris, 




y This and the two subsequent cuts are drawn to twice the 
usual scale. 



LOCAL DEITIES. 



417 




with the faltering voice of fear/ If Viteres and the 
Scandinavian Odin be identical, we are thus furnished 
with evidence of the early settlement of the Teutonic 
tribes in England. The altar given on page 395 is 
also dedicated to Viteres. The occurrence of the 
name of this god in a plural form, as 
in the annexed example, which was 
found at Condercum, and is now at 
Somerset-house, has suggested the 
idea, that Viteres is not the proper 
name of a god, but that diis veteribus 
— the ancient gods — is the inscription 
intended. Most probably, however, 
Viteres was the name of a local deity. 

The next altar is also dedicated to a local goddess ; 
at least it is not easy to give any more satisfactory 
account of the Dea Hamia. The al- 
tar was found near Thirl wall castle, 
and belongs to the Society of Anti- 
quaries, London. 

We now proceed to an important 
group of altars and sculptures, which, 
if not strictly local, are yet chiefly 
found in those regions of Europe 
which were swept by the Teutonic 
wave in its progress westward. They have been 
met with in England, the Netherlands, along the 
banks of the Rhine and other parts of Germany, and 
in France. These deities, when sculptured, are re- 
presented as triple, generally seated, clothed in long 
flowing drapery, and bearing in their laps baskets of 

3g 




418 



DEJE MAT RES. 




fruit. A slab, of which a drawing has already been 
given (p. 140), is inscribed matribus campestribus, 
to the mothers of the plains ; it probably refers to 
the deities in question. An altar found in the same 
station, Condercum, and now in 
the vaults of Somerset-house, is 
inscribed lamiis tribus, to the three 
Lamiae. The wood-cut accurately 
represents it. In Rich's compan- 
ion to the Latin Dictionary, the 
Lamiae are represented as l Vam- 
pires ; believed to be malignant 
spirits of the female sex, who wan- 
dered about at night in the guise 
of old hags, sucking blood, and 
devouring the flesh of human beings. This super- 
stition/ continues the writer, ' originated in Egypt/ 
In corroboration of the Egyptian origin of this class 
of demons, it may be stated that small images, ar- 
ranged in triplets, are of common occurrence among 
the antiquities of Egypt. 
The cuts here introduced 
exhibit two groups of 
this class of idols, select- 
ed from a large number 
| of similar sets, in the 
possession of his Grace 
the duke of Northum- 
berland, at Alnwick Castle. Their resemblance to 
some of those found upon the line of the Wall is strik- 
ing. The foreign origin of these mother-deities is 





T>EJE MATRES. 



419 




further proved by their being denominated in inscrip- 
tions matres tramarin^e, Transmarine Mothers. 
The altar here figured is an example of this kind ; 
it was found at Habitancum, and is now preserved 
at Alnwick Castle. The inscrip- 
tion records, that Julius Victor 
dedicated it in discharge of a 
vow freely and deservedly to the 
Transmarine Mothers. This Vic- 
tor,it appears by another inscrip- 
tion, was a tribune of the first 
cohort of the Vangiones, a Ger- 
manic tribe. On none of these al- 
tars are the deities distinguished 
by a proper name. This would seem to be in con- 
formity with the superstitious feelings of the mid- 
dle ages in England and Germany, where it was 
thought unlucky to call the fairies and elves by 
any other denominations than the respectful titles 
of f the ladies/ or ' the good people/ Several sculp- 
tures representing, as is supposed, the mother-god- 
desses, have been found on the line of the Wall. 
One group, found at Housesteads, and now in the 
castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is drawn (fig. 4) on 
Plate XII. When seen by Horsley, this slab had 
in the upper part of it two fishes and a sea-goat 
in relief. Two other sets got at the same place, 
are figured in the Britannia Romana. In one of 
them, the central or chief figure is represented as 
bound by the legs. The ancients, in order to pre- 
vent a deity, whose favour they coveted, taking his 



420 



DEJE MATRES. 




departure against their will, not unfrequently used 

the unwarrantable liberty 
of securing him by chains. 
At Netherby, there are 
three sculptures belonging 
to this class. One of them, 
shewn in the wood-cut, 
is in a perfect condition. 
The figures are stand- 
ing, an ample covering 
envelopes their heads, and a short tunic scantily 
invests their bodies. Another 
group, here engraved, has 
met with the usual fate of 
Roman sculptures in the 
north of England— they have 
suffered decapitation ; the 
ample folds of the garments by which they are 

clothed have happily not 
been disturbed, and the 
central or chief person- 
age holds a basket of fruit. 
The third sculpture is 
of larger size and has 
suffered more extensive 
injury ; the left hand 
figure of the group only 
remains ; she is seated, 
and holds fruit in her lap. 
The Byzantine char- 
acter of the drapery will 






DE.E MATRES. 421 

be noticed. At Nether-hall another fragment of a 
group, procured from the neighbouring 
station, is preserved — the left hand 
figure has been broken off; the two 
remaining ladies wear the same cowl- 
like head - dress as the Netherby 
mothers ; shewn on the former page. 
Mr. Thomas Wright, speaking of these mythic per- 
sonages, says — 

The ancient mythology of the Germanic race was not en- 
tirely eradicated by Christianity; and it is interesting to 
trace it as reflected in the popular superstitions of the present 
day. The reverence for the three goddesses who presided 
over the woods and fields, pre-arranged the fates of individ- 
uals, and dispensed the blessings of Providence to mankind, 
may thus be traced down to a comparatively late period, both 
in Germany and in England. They are sometimes regarded as 
the three Fates — the Norni of the north, the wselcyrian of 
the Anglo-Saxons (the weird sisters, transformed in Shake- 
speare into three witches), disposing of the fates of individ- 
uals, and dealing out death and life. But they are also found 
distributing rewards and punishments, giving wealth and 
prosperity, and conferring fruitfulness. They are the three 
fairies who are often introduced in the fairy legends of a later 
period, with these same characteristics. 2 

After so long a companionship with the heathen 
relics found on the line of the Wall, the reader will 
naturally ask — Have no Christian remains been 
found? — Does no memorial record the name of 
Jehovah, the living God ? A negative reply must 

z For further information on this interesting subject the reader 
is referred to two admirable papers by Mr. C. Roach Smith, and 
Mr. Thomas Wright, in the second volume of the Journal of the 
British Archaeological Association. 



422 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 

be given to the inquiry. There is, however, 
abundant evidence to prove, that Christianity was 
extensively diffused through the world long before 
the Romans departed from Britain. Tacitus tells 
us, that in his day there was a great multitude 
of Christians at Rome itself. The younger Pliny, 
in the second century, addressing the emperor, 
complains that the heathen temples were almost 
deserted. Justin Martyr says, there is not a 
nation in which prayers and thanksgivings are not 
offered up in the name of the crucified Jesus ; and 
Tertullian, the most ancient of the Latin fathers, ap- 
pealing to the magistrates, says, ' We are but of 
yesterday, yet we have filled every place, your cities, 
garrisons, and free towns, your camps, senate, and 
forum ; we have left nothing empty but your tem- 
ples/ Britain early received the glad tidings. * The 
concurrent voice of antiquity,' says Mr. Thackeray, 
' although it has not designated the individuals who 
were the immediate instruments of Providence in 
enlightening Britain, assigns the year 60 as about 
the period when the Christian religion was intro- 
duced into this island.' At this time there were not 
fewer than 48,000 Roman soldiers, including their 
auxiliaries, in this country, some of whom must have 
been well acquainted with the name of Christ. In 
the army there would be some centurions like Cor- 
nelius, some deputies like Sergius Paulus, who, not 
content with knowing the truth themselves, endea- 
voured to communicate it to others, and yet these 
Christian soldiers have, along the line of the Wall, 



CHRISTIAN SYMBOL. 423 

left no memorial of their faith. The God whom 
they served required not the erection of an altar of 
stone, or an offering of frankincense. Their ' in- 
scription' was, a holy life, ' seen and read of all men.' 
Notwithstanding the example and teaching of such 
men, it is a lamentable fact, that heathenism con- 
tinued to rear its head in Britain until near the 
close of the period of Roman occupation, as 
several of the altars found on the line of the 
Wall clearly testify. 

Brand conceived that an altar discovered at Rut- 
chester, and now in the museum at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, exhibited the Christian symbol. It may well 
be doubted whether the rude carving to which he 
refers, is any thing more than a partially obliterated 
letter. There are other letters, evidently of modern 
fabrication, carved on this altar. 

Fas est ah hosie doceri. An obvious remark clothed 
in Horsley's own language, and extracted from a 
work that is now scarce, will form a suitable con- 
clusion to this section. Speaking of vows in sickness 
he says — 

There is one thing in these pagan votive altars that may 
be a shame and reproach to a great many who call themselves 
Christians ; and that is, the willingness and cheerfulness with 
which they paid, or pretended to pay, the vows they had made. 
Such as have any acquaintance with those things, know how 
commonly these letters v. s. l. m. or v. s. l. l. m,, are added at 
the end of inscriptions that are on such altars, whereby they 
signified how willingly and cheerfully, as well as deserverdly, 
they performed the vows they had made, viz., votum solvit 
libens merito, or votum solvit libens, lubens (or Icetus) merito. 
Much more deservedly, and therefore more willingly and 



424 MONUMENTAL SLABS. 

cheerfully, should the vows made to the Most High, to the 
true and living God, be paid or performed to him, and par- 
ticularly the vows made in trouble." 

SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 

Extreme importance was attached by both Greeks 
and Romans to the due discharge of the rites of se- 
pulture. Until earth had been three times sprinkled 
over the body of the departed, his spirit was con- 
ceived to be denied admission into the Elysian 
fields. The practice of burning the dead became 
common at Rome about the latter period of the re- 
public. The inconvenience and expense of the pro- 
cess would necessarily restrict it to persons of some 
wealth. After the pile was consumed, the ashes of 
the deceased were gathered up by the nearest rela- 
tive, and deposited in an urn. There are numerous 
instances in Britain of the Romans having buried 
their dead entire. Skeletons have been found in 
London, which Mr, Charles Roach Smith considers 
must have been deposited in the higher empire. As 
Christianity gained ground, the custom of burning 
the dead fell into disuse ; the early Christians were 
unwilling to do needless violence to the dust of a fel- 
low disciple, and resolved to discontinue the super- 
stitious ceremonies which usually attended cremation. 

Whether the body was previously reduced to 

« Vows in Trouble, by John Horsley, A.M. London : Printed 
for Richard Ford, at the Angel, in the Poultry, near Stocks mar- 
ket. And sold by R. Akenhead, Bookseller, at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, 1729. — At the time Horsley published this book, he was 
engaged in the preparation of the Britannia Romana. 



FUNERAL URN. 425 

ashes, or deposited in the ground unburnt, it was 
usual to raise a mound over the spot. 

Ergo instauramus Polydoro funus : et ingens 
Aggeritur tumulo tellus. JEn. III. 62. 

Sometimes, instead of a mound of earth, a monu- 
ment of stone covered the place where the sepul- 
chral urn was deposited. This was the case at 
Bremenium, as already described (p. 326). With 
the ashes or body of the deceased, it was usual to 
deposit a small brass coin to answer the demands of 
Charon. ' This custom of burying valuables and 
coins with the dead is by no means extinct; the 
humbler Irish will pawn their clothes to provide 
fresh pieces of money to throw into the coffins of 
their departed friends. '* The Romans, as formerly 
observed, did not usually deposit either the unburnt 
bodies of the dead, or their ashes, within the walls 
of towns or stations. A curious exception to this 
practice has lately been noticed. In the month of 
October last (1850), a funereal urn was discovered 
within the station of Borcovicus, near the north- 
west corner. It was sunk in the earth, and was co- 
vered by an oblong flat stone, without inscription. 
The vase, which was of earth en- ware, and altogether 
devoid of ornament, was globular in its form, and of 
large dimensions. It measured two feet in diameter, 
and two feet in height. It contained ashes, amongst 
which was found a solitary silver coin of Hadrian. 
This urn is preserved at Chesters. On the slab cover- 

b Smith's Collectanea Antiqua i. 21. 

3 H 



426 



DII MANES. 



ing the remains of the deceased person, the name 
and age were not unfrequently inscribed. The 
carving, which sometimes includes an effigy of 
the individual, is often very rude ; the back of the 
stone is, for the most part, undressed. The inscrip- 
tions on these ' frail memorials ' which in the mural 
region have come down to our times, and * implore 
the passing tribute of a sigh/ almost uniformly com- 
mence with the letters D. M. — diis manibus. The 
shades or departed spirits are, probably, themselves 
intended in this address, though much confusion ex- 
ists upon the subject in the works of the ancient 
writers. In the following lines, Ovid represents the 
manes as being objects of worship : — 

Est honor et tumulis : animas placate paternas ; 

Parvaque in extinctas munera ferte pyras. 
Parva petunt manes : pietas pro divite grata est 

Munere : non avidos Styx habet ima Deos. 
Tegula projectis satis est velata coronis ; 

Et sparsae fruges, parcaque mica salis. 
Some of the ceremonies here referred to by the 
Latin poet, are still in use, as 
all know who have visited the 
cemetery of Pere la Chaise, in 
Paris. On the sepulchral slab, 
death is rarely mentioned ; but 
the number of years, months, and; 
days, that the deceased lived, is 
recorded with great particularity. 
The altar, of which an engraving 
is here introduced, was found at 
Cilurnum, and is now in the 
Library of the Dean and Chap- 




MORTALITY OF THE GARRISON. 427 

ter at Durham. It bears the following inscription — 

d[iisj mEanibvs] scacrvmI Sacred to the divine Manes of 

fabi,£ honor Fabia Honora- 

atm fabivs hon ta. Fabius Hon- 

orativs tribvnevs] oratius the tribune of the 

cohIortisj i. vangioncvm] First cohort of Vangiones, c 

et avrelia eglic And Aurelia Eglic- 

iane fecer iane erected this 

vnt fili^e dvlcissim^h To their most sweet daughter. 

' Tender souls !' exclaims Hodgson, * your last act 
of piety to a beloved daughter has not been forgotten : 
the altar that bears the memorial of your affection 
still exists, though it has been banished from the 
custody of the ashes which were committed to its 
care.' Though painful, it is yet pleasant to notice the 
heavings of natural affection in the martial bosom 
of a Roman soldier. This stone differs from most of 
the sepulchral monuments, in being an altar instead 
of a slab, and in not mentioning the age of the de- 
ceased. It has been remarked that the larger pro- 
portion of the tomb-stones of the mural region 
record the deaths of young persons. The climate 
of the north of England, particularly of the exposed 
district of the Barrier, must have told with fearful 
severity upon the constitutions of those who had 
been reared under the sunny skies of Italy and Spain. 

c The first cohort of the Vangiones were in Britain in the time of 
Hadrian, from whom some of them, in 132, had a discharge from 
the army, with the privilege to marry. They were from Belgic 
Gaul, and were a long time quartered at Risingham, at which sta- 
tion eight of their tribunes have left their names on inscriptions. 

Hist. Nor. II. iii. 183. 



428 SEPULCHRAL SLAB. 

The large slab which is here figured, was found 




at Carvoran, and is now in the castle of Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne. It reads— 



lOlS] MCANIBVS] 
AVREfLIAE] FAIAE 
D^OMOl SALON AS 
AVUELLIVS] MARCVS 

o ( centuriojoBSEQio] con- 

IVG[IS] SANCTIS" 
SIMAE QVAE VI- 
XIX ANNIS xxxur. 
SINE VLLA MACVLA 



To the divine Manes of 
Aurelia Faia, 
Of a house of Salona, 
Aurelius Marcus 
A centurion, out of affection 
For his most holy wife 
Who lived 
Thirty three years, 
Without any stain, erected this. 



MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. 429 

It is not unnatural that a soldier while bemoaning 
the loss of a beloved wife in a land of strangers, 
should so dwell upon her virtues as to conceive that 
hers was a faultless character. Gruter gives an in- 
scription which nearly resembles this. It was erect- 
ed by Marcus Aurelius Paullus — 

CONIVGI 1NCOMPARABILI 

CVM QVA VIXIT ANNIS XXVII 

SINEVLLA QVERELA 

To his incomparable wife, with whom he had lived twenty- 
seven years without having had a single squabble. 

This couple,' says Mr. Akerman, ' must for ever throw 
into the shade all the candidates for the Dunmow flitch.' 
At Chesterholm is a slab which, though suffering 
from exposure to the wea- 
ther, is still distinct : — 

DIIS MANIBVS 
CORN[ELIVSj VICTOR S. C. {Sibi Constituit) 
MTLCESJ ANNfOS] XXVI CIV[lSJ 
PANN[ONlAE] FLLElVS] SATVRNI- 
NI P.P VIXilT] ANNCOSJ LV. DL1ES1XI 
CONIVX PROCVRAVI 

To the divine Manes ; Cornelius Victor ordered this to be 
erected over himself. He was a soldier twenty -six years, 
a citizen of Pannonia, and the very dutiful (p.p. pientmime) 
son of Saturninus. He lived fifty-five years and eleven days. 
I, his wife, saw his order executed. 

The tomb-stone to a young physician has already 
been given, page 227. 

CENTUKIAL STONES. 

The only other class of inscribed stones to which 
reference will now be made, is that of centurial 




430 



CENTURIAL STONES. 



stones. The centurions seem to have been in the 
habit of placing a common stone, inscribed with the 
name of their century — company or troop, in that sec- 
tion of the Wall which they had built. The letters are 
usually very rudely cut ; sometimes they are en- 
closed in a border, as in the annexed example, 
which, probably found in the vincinity of Cilur- 
num, is now at Alnwick Castle. 



•'«*»"■ 



|JZ£QFtf$ 



COHtORSJ V 

> (centuria) caecili[I] 
procvh 

The fifth cohort. 

The century of Caecilius 

Proculus. 




More frequently, however, the stone is entirely 
unadorned, as in this example, which, along with 
the former, was removed 
from Walwick Chesters to 
Alnwick Castle. The let- 
ter C, reversed thus 3, or 
more frequently an an- 
gular mark resembling the letter V, laid upon its 
side thus > , is the sign usually adopted for centuria, 
century. Two centurial stones are shewn in the wood- 
cut introduced in page 190. The upper one, that of 
Valerius Maximus, was described, a century ago, by 
Horsley, who found it near Haltwhistle-burn. After- 
wards it was built up in a gable of the Cawfield 
farm-house, against which a coal-shed was formed. 
Here, though sadly begrimed, it was protected from 
further injury, until rescued by the present owner of 



NUMISMATIC REMAINS. 431 

the farm, and safely deposited in the museum of an- 
tiquities at Chesters. 

COINS. 

Next in importance to the inscribed stones found 
on the line of the Wall, the student of history will 
reckon the coins which the spade and plough of the 
husbandman turn up in considerable numbers in the 
mural region. In a rude state of society the com- 
mercial transactions of the residents of a district are 
almost entirely confined to an interchange of the 
commodities produced by each. A body of soldiery, 
however, liable to be removed from place to place, and 
compelled to expend their energies in unproductive 
industry, are necessarily obliged to resort to the use 
of money. It is chiefly in the stations where the 
Roman legions lodged, or on the roads which they 
traversed, that the imperial coin is found. These 
metallic pieces, bearing the insignia of Rome, thus 
become exceedingly important in tracking the march 
of Roman armies. As works of art, the design and 
execution of many of them are truly admirable. The 
copper coins of Hadrian are especially worthy of 
study. The custom which prevailed during the best 
periods of the empire, of rendering the circulating 
medium of the market-place the means of commem- 
orating the leading events of the day, gives them 
increased value. Were all the other records of 
Roman story destroyed, its most stirring incidents 
might be recovered by a careful examination of the 
coins which the cabinets of the antiquary contain. 



432 coins. 

Ample use has already been made of this source of 
information in the first Part of this work. Why is 
it that Britain neglects this means of rousing the 
spirit of her people, of communicating information, 
and of securing an almost imperishable memorial of 
her mi°;htv acts ? Had she recorded upon her 
coinage the events of the last half-century, she would 
have transmitted to posterity the memory of a series 
of warlike achievements and peaceful triumphs un- 
paralleled in extent and unequalled in glory. As it 
is, our metallic currency has little value beyond its 
commercial worth, and generation after generation is 
compelled to contemplate, with what complacency 
they may, the same lady sitting immoveably upon 
the same enduring rock, and the same mounted 
knight making his interminable attempt to slay the 
same deathless dragon. The immense number of 
the coins found upon the line of the Wall, and the 
extension of the series from the earliest periods down 
to the time of Honorius, prove incontestibly the 
length of time that the Romans maintained their 
hold of this isthmus. The accidental loss of pieces 
of money will not, alone, account for the large quan- 
tity which has been found. In times of danger the 
possessors of treasure seem to have been in the habit 
of concealing it in the earth ; the secret of their 
having done so must often have perished with them. 
In excavating that portion of the station of Cilurnum 
which was opened in 1843, not fewer than seventy 
Roman coins were found. In 1833, near the west 
gateway of Vindolana, three hundred small brass 



coins, 433 

coins, mostly of Constantius and Mangentius, were 
found, not in a heap or vessel, but dispersed among 
the soil. The Rev. John Walton, who, about a cen- 
tury ago was vicar of Corbridge, made a considerable 
collection of Roman coins, by purchasing such as 
were turned up in the neighbouring station of (Dor- 
chester. The following circumstance is related 
concerning him. A party of Jews having established 
in the neighbourhood a prussian-blue manufactory, 
felt disposed to enter the market with the vicar. Mr. 
Walton, unwilling to compete with them by offering 
a larger price, had the fields where the coins were 
found, strewed with imitations of the genuine pieces. 
These, on being picked up, were freely bought by 
the Jews, who, soon finding the trade a losing one, 
abandoned it altogether. 

The station, notwithstanding such systematic 
gleaning, is not yet deprived of its treasures. Not 
long ago, a rustic eked out a livelihood by search- 
ing for its coins, and disposing of them to occasional 
customers. The other day a plough-boy being 
asked if he had found any lately, produced straight- 
way from his pocket not less than thirty, most of 
them, indeed, highly corroded. 

The coinage of Rome seems to have continued in 
circulation in the north of England for a very short 
time after the departure of the Roman forces from 
Britain. Saxon money is found in Northumberland 
of a date coeval with the arrival of that people, but 
is never mingled with the Roman coinage. The 
coins of the Romans, on the other hand, are 

3 i 



434 



COINS. 



never accompanied by those of their successors. 
Within about forty years after the departure of the 
Romans, the circulation of the imperial coinage 
seems to have ceased. This circumstance proves 
incontestibly that a mighty political revolution had 
taken place in the interval. The present appearance 
of the stations corroborates the idea. The walls 
have been forcibly thrown down, the statues and 
other objects within them purposely mutilated, and 
the whole inclosure rendered, as far as possible 
unfit for human habitation. 

To attempt a description of even the principal 
coins that can still be ascertained to have been pro- 
cured from the district of the Wall, would be to 
compose a treatise upon numismatics. It will per- 
haps be sufficient to lay before the reader a brief 
account of the hoard which was discovered in 1837, 
in an ancient quarry near Thorngrafton. The coins, 
sixty-five in number, were contained in a small 
skiff-shaped receptacle with a circular handle. The 
vessel represented in 
the adjoining wood- 
cut is about six inches 
long; the lid has a 
hinge at one end, and 
fastens with a spring 
at the other. The 
coins are at present 
in the possession of 
the brother of the 
quarryman who discovered them, and he holds them 
with such tenacity, that my artist was refused per- 




THORNGRAFTON COINS. 



435 



mission to see even the case which contained them, 
though he had taken a journey of thirty miles for 
the purpose of drawing them. Mr. Fairless, of 
Hexham, was more fortunate, and obtained leave to 
take sealing-wax impressions of the coins, from 
which the wood-cuts have been prepared. I am 
indebted to Mr. Fairless for the description of the 
coins, which he took from the pieces themselves. 



GOLD. 

Ob'O. TI. CLA.VD. CAESAR. AVG. GERM. 
P.M. TRIB.POT. P.P. 

ReV. NERO CLAVD. CAES. DRVSVS. 
GERM. PRIXC. IVVENT. 

Obv. NERO CAESAR AYGVSTVS. 

f Rev. SAL VS. 

Obv. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. 

Rev. A Victory holding a gar- 
land over the head of a 
Roman soldier, and in 
the exergue, cos. vm. 

SILVER. 

1. Obv. IMP. NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS. 

>. salvs. Device same as in gold above. 





r^\ 2. Obv. IMP. SER. GALBA CAESAR 
AVG. 

ROV. DIVA AVGVSTA. 





436 THORNGRAFTON COINS. 

3. Obv. IMP. SER. GALBA CAESAR AVG. 

Bev. s.p.q.r. ob. c.s. (Within 
a wreath.) 

4. Obv. ser. galba avg. Bev. Same as last. 

' \AO. UOV. OTHO CAESAR AVG. 

Bev. PONT. MAX. 

6. Ofo. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS 
AVG. 

Bev. imp. xix. A basket filled 
with corn or bread. 

, 7- Obv. CAES. VESP. AVG. P.M. COS. III. 
BeV. CONCORDIA AVGVSTI. 



^ 8. 9. 10. Obv. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. 
BeV. PON. MAX. TR.P. COS. VI. 

11. Obv. IMP. CAES. VESP. AVG. CENS. 
BeV. PONTIF. MAXIM. 

12. Obv. DIVV. AVGVSTVS VESPASIANVS. 

Bev. No inscription. A figure standing. 

IS. Obv. IMP. VESP. AVG. P. M. COS. VIII. 

Bev. ves (figure) ta. 








THORNGRAFTON COINS. 437 

14. 05v. IMP. CAES. VESPASIANVS AVG. 

Rev. cos. iter. — (figure) — tr. pot. 

15. Obv. Same as last. 
Rev. cos. — (an eagle standing on cippus) — vn. 

16. Obv. Inscription same as last. 
Rev. Reversed goats' heads, bearing a shield. 

17. Obv. Inscription same as last. 

). COS. ITER. TR. POT. 

i\ 18. Obv. Inscription same as last. 
Rev. genivm — (figure) — p.r. 

19. Obv. IMP. CAES. DOMITIANVS 
AVG. P.M. 
Rev. TR. POT. II. COS. Villi. 
DES. X. P.P. 



20. 21. Obv. Same as last. 

Rev. imp. xxi. cos. xvi. cens,p. p.p. 

22. 23. Obv. CAESAR AVG. DOMITIANVS. 

Rev. cos. mi. Pegasus. 






438 



THORNGRAFTON COINS. 



($Sp%[^ 24 Obv. CAES. OOM1T. AVG. germ. 
P.M. T.R.P. 
Ret). IMP. XIIII. COS. XIII. CENS. P. 

p. p. 



25. Rev. imp. xxii. cos. xvi. cens.p. p. p. 




26. Obv. IMP. CAES. DOMITIANVS AVG. P. M 
Rev. TR. POT. II. COS. Villi. DES. XII. 

27. Obv. CAES. AVG. DOMIT. COS. III. 
ReV. PRINCEPS IVVENTVT. 



28. Obv. IMP. NERVA. CAES. AVG. P.M. 
TR.P. COS. 111. P.R. 

ReV. FORTVNA P.R. 

29- Obv. IMP. CAES. NERVA. TRAIAN. 
AVG. GERM. 

Red. PONT. MAX. TR. POT. COS. II. 



30.31. Obv. IMP. CAES. NERVA TRAIAN. AVG. 



ReV. P.M. TR.P. COS. VI. P.P. S.P.Q.R. 



32. Obv. IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. 
DAC. P. M. TR.P. 

Rev. COS. V. P.P. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO 
PRINC. 





THORNGRAFTON COINS. 



439 




&vs w 33. 84. 35. Bev. cos. v. p.p. s.p.q.r. optimo princ. 







36. Olv. IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. I»AC P.M. TR.P. 

COS. V. P.P. 

ReV. S P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINCIP1. 

37. Obv. Same as last. 

BeV. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINCIPI. 

Exergue, fort. red, 

38. Same as before. 
Exergue, pax. 

%^ 39 Obv. IMP. TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG. 
GER DAC. P.M. TR.P. 

Bev. cos vi. p.p. s.p.q.r. 

40. Obv. IMP. CAES. NERVA TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG. 
GER. DAC. 

Bev. P.M. TR.P. COS. VI. P.P. S.P.Q.R. 




41. Obv. IMP. CAES. NERVA TRAIAN. AVG. GERM. 




42. 43. Obv. imp. caes. nerva traian. 

AVG. GERM. 
Bev. P.M. TR. P. COS. II. P.P. 



440 



THOHNGRAFTON COINS. 




44. Same as 40. with Exergue, tro — vio. 



■^ 45. Olv. IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. P.M. TR.P. 
BeV. COS.V. P.P. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINC. 







46. The same as last. 



47. Same as last. Seated figure, the right hand 
extended, holding a Victory. 



48. Obv. IMP. CAESAR TRAIAN. HADRI- 
ANVS AVG. 
Rev. P.M. TR.P. COS. III. 



a ^,X 49. Obv. Same as last. 

Exergue, fel.p.r. (doubtful.) 

P.M .TR.P. COS. III. 

JS 50. Obv. IMP. CAESAR TRAIAN. HADRIANVS AVG. 
Rev. P.M.TR.P. COS. III. 

pie — tas, in the field. 
51. Obv. Same as last. 

Rev. P.M.TR.P. cos. III. 




THORNGRAFTON COINS. 



441 



CONSULAR AND OTHERS. 





This coin symbolizes the peace 
concluded between the Roman 
general Scaurus and the Ara- 
bian monarch Aretas. 




MINERALS AND METALS, 

In nearly all the stations of the line, the ashes of 
mineral fuel have been found ; in some, a store of 
unconsumed coal has been met with, which, though 
intended to give warmth to the primeval occupants 

3 K 



442 MINING OPERATIONS. 

of the isthmus, has been burnt in the grates of the 
modern English. In several places the source 
whence the mineral was procured can be pointed 
out ; but the most extensive workings that I have 
heard of, are in the neighbourhood of Grindon 
Lough, near Sewingshields. Not long ago, a shaft 
was sunk, with the view of procuring the coal which 
was supposed to be below the surface; the projector 
soon found, that though coal had been there, it was 
all removed. The ancient workings stretched 
beneath the bed of the lake. 

In Allendale and Alston Moor, numerous masses 
of ancient scoriae have been found, which must have 
resulted from the reduction of lead from its ore. In 
the station of Corchester, portions of lead pipe have 
been found ; it is an inch and a half in diameter, 
and has been formed by bending round a flat strip 
of the metal, and soldering the joint. 

Iron has been produced in large quantities. In 
the neighbourhood of Habitancum masses of iron 
slag have been found. It is heavier than what pro- 
ceeds from modern furnaces, in consequence, pro- 
bably, of the imperfect reduction of the ore. In the 
neighbourhood of Lanchester, the process seems to 
have been carried on very extensively. On the 
division of the common, two large heaps were 
removed, the one containing about four hundred cart 
loads of dross, the other six hundred. It was used 
in the construction of some new roads which were 
then formed, a purpose for which it was admirably 
adapted. In the neighbourhood of one of these 



BLAST FURNACE. 443 

heaps of scoriae, the iron tongs represented in Plate 
XVII. fig. 8, so much resembling those at present 
used by blacksmiths, were ploughed up. During 
the operation of bringing this common into culti- 
vation, the method adopted by the Romans of pro- 
ducing the blast necessary to smelt the metal was 
made apparent. Two tunnels had been formed in 
the side of a hill ; they were wide at one extremity, 
but tapered off to a narrow bore at the other, where 
they met in a point. The mouths of the channels 
opened towards the west, from which quarter a 
prevalent wind blows in this valley, and some- 
times with great violence. The blast received 
by them would, when the wind was high, be poured 
with considerable force and effect upon the smelting 
furnaces at the extremity of the tunnels. 

METALLIC IMPLEMENTS. 

Notwithstanding the tendency of iron to oxidize, 
several weapons made of this material, and used by 
the Romans, have come down to our day. Their 
general character and form can be better learnt from 
an inspection of the drawings which depict them 
than by verbal description. On Plate X. are shewn 
two spear or javelin heads, and on Plate XVII. the 
iron points of some arrows. 

Vessels of cast-metal, fitted for domestic use, are 
occasionally met with. On Plate XVII. fig. 2, is a 
specimen of a pot or boiler, closely resembling those 
in modern use ; it was found in cutting the New- 
castle and Carlisle Railway, near Haydon Bridge. 



444 METALLIC IMPLEMENTS. 

Bronze vessels are occasionally found. The uten- 
sils depicted on Plate XVI. are of this metal. Fig. 1, 
is a pan, evidently intended for culinary purposes. 
The use of the other vessel, fig. 2, so nearly resem- 
bling a modern coffee-pot, is not so apparent, though 
several of this form have been found in the Roman 
stations in the north of England. Is it a decanter — 
a sort of wine flagon? Both of these vessels were 
found on the line of the Wall, but at what point I 
have been unable to learn. 

Near to Whitfield, were recently found three 
camp-kettles, of peculiar make, which are now in 
the Museum of Antiquities at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
They are formed of bronze, but of exceedingly thin 
metal ; they have evidently seen much service, and 
are patched in several places. Owing to the thinness 
of the metal they would very readily feel the fire. 
In Italy, where during a great part of the year a fire 
is only lighted when indispensable, similar vessels 
are still in use. These three vessels vary in size, 
so as to allow of their being placed one within the 
other. The smallest of them is shewn on Plate 
XVII. fig. 3. The strainer, fig. 1, also of bronze, 
and very finely and tastefully perforated, was found 
with them. 

The boss of a shield, having something of the 
appearance of the head ol a snake, Plate VIII. fig. 
2, is also of bronze. It is preserved at Chesters. 

Fibula? or clasps, for fastening the loose robes worn 
by the Romans, are, as may be supposed, of ordinary 
occurrence. The one represented, of the full size, 




/SO, 5~*W 




10 \/ 








ROMAN POTTERY. 445 

Plate XIV. fig. 2, was found at Carvoran. It is 
of bronze > and is of a form of which there are many 
examples. The tongue is wanting, but the spiral 
spring to which it was attached, and the groove 
which caught it, are distinctly observed. The small 
pair of bronze shears or scissors, which are shewn of 
their full size, Plate XIV. fig. 1, were also found at 
Carvoran. 

EARTHENWARE AND MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 

Few subjects possess more interest than the pot- 
tery of the Romans. Whether we regard the shape 
of the vessels, the beauty of their ornaments, or the 
excellence of the material of which they are com- 
posed, they are worthy of our admiration. Fortu- 
nately for the present writer, so much has recently 
been published upon the subject, as to justify him in 
dismissing it with a brief notice. 

Among the earthenware vessels found in the 
mural region are some of coarse structure, such as 
amphorce, mortaria, pans for common domestic pur- 
poses, and some which have probably been intended 
for exposure to the fire. The amphorae are large 
narrow-necked vessels, capable of containing several 
gallons, and formed of red clay. In general, they 
have been furnished with two handles, on one of 
which the maker's name is notunfrequently stamped. 
They were used for holding wine. I am not aware 
of any having been found on the line of the Wall, 
in a state at all approaching to completeness. 

The mortars are strong shallow vessels, provided 



446 ROMAN POTTERY. 

with a lip for the convenience of pouring. They 
are formed of clay, resembling fire-brick in colour. 
On their inner surface, are frequently imbedded 
angular fragments of quartz, chert, or iron scoriae. 
By this contrivance, the bruising of parched corn or 
other articles of food would be more easily effected. 

Various vessels of common earthenware, such as 
would be required in every household for holding 
water, grain, and kindred substances, are discovered, 
occasionally nearly perfect. At Nether Hall some 
very fine ones are preserved, which were found in 
the neighbouring station ; one is twelve inches in 
diameter, and nearly six deep. Another, of globular 
form, is ten inches in diameter, and nine in depth. 

Besides these, fragments of thick vessels are fre- 
quently met with, which are of a porous nature, and 
hence well adapted to withstand the sudden applica- 
tion of heat. In these, when placed upon the fire, we 
may readily conceive that food was baked or stewed. 

Other vessels, for the most part of smaller size, 
more elegant shape, and composed of finer mate- 
rials, are of common occurrence. Some are nearly 
black, others grey or slate-coloured : these are quite 
plain and unembossed. A species of yellow earthen- 
ware is found, tinted with a brown pigment, by the 
partial removal of which, a sort of pattern is given 
to it. All these are of British manufacture. Many 
of the potteries in which they were fabricated, 
have been clearly ascertained. The slate-coloured 
and grey kinds owe their peculiar hue to the action 
of what has been called, the smother kiln. During 



SAMIAN WARE. 447 

the process of baking the vessels, the vent of the 
fnrnace has been closed, so as to fill the kiln with 
smoke. The unconsumed carbon not only commu- 
nicated its own hue to the objects exposed to it, but 
prevented the iron, which usually forms the colouring 
matter of clay, from being converted into the per- 
oxide, which is of a brick-red colour/ 

The finest species of earthenware found in 
Roman camps, is that called Samian. It is of a 
bright coral-red colour. It can at once be detected 
by its glaze, which has not yet, in modern times, 
been successfully imitated. Some vessels are quite 
plain, but others are very tastefully embossed. 
Plates IX. and XV. furnish specimens of the more 
ornamental kind. The large fragment, engraved 
Plate XV. fig. 1, was found in sinking the shaft of 
the famous Wallsend pit. No potteries for the 
manufacture of this species of ware, have been found 
in Britain ; and as the maker's marks, and the pat- 
terns of the embossed varieties correspond w T ith 
those found on the continent, it is conceived to be 
of foreign origin. Gaul and Spain have been pointed 
out' as the countries from which the specimens ex- 
humed in Britain were probably procured. The vast 
quantity of. fragments of Samian ware mingled 
with the rubbish of some of the stations is truly 
remarkable ; and not less worthy of observation is 
the fact, that not only has the clay of which the 
broken vessels are composed, undergone no dete- 
rioration by being buried for centuries in the damp 
d See Remains of Roman Art in Cirencester, 78. 



448 MINOR ANTIQUITIES. 

earth, but even the glaze is, to all appearance, unin- 
jured. That even the plainer kinds of Samian ware 
have been accounted valuable by their owners, is 
evident from the circumstance, that marks and names, 
by which they might be identified, have in numerous 
instances been scratched upon them. In Plate VII. 
figs. 9 and 11, are two examples of this kind, found 
at Cilurnum, and still preserved there. In some 
cases where a vessel has been fractured, it has been 
joined by clasps of lead. Fig. 1, Plate VIII., is an 
example of this, also found at Cilurnum. The pro- 
cess of boring the holes to receive the lead must 
have been one of some labour, and would not have 
been undertaken unless the vessel had been ac- 
counted valuable. 

An imitation of the Samian ware seems to have 
been made in Britain during the continuance of the 
Roman period. It is not equal to the original in 
colour, texture, or design. Fig. 2, Plate IX. differs 
in appearance from true Samian — it may be an 
imitation. 

The lamp shewn on Plate XIV. fig. 4, is of red 
earthenware, covered with a black pigment ; it 
proves the vast amount of skill and taste which the 
Romans lavished even upon articles of minor im- 
portance. 

Mill-stones are among the most frequent of the 
discoveries made in our Roman stations. Some, 
found at Cilurnum, are shewn in Plate XIII. fig. 4. 
They closely resemble the querns which w^ere used 
in Scotland and the rural districts of Northumber- 



MINOR ANTIQUITIES. 449 

land, within a recent period. Many of the stones 
consist of the mill-stone grit, basalt, or granite of 
the district; others are formed of a species of lava 
which is not procured in any locality nearer than 
Rhine Prussia. The advantage of these foreign 
stones is, thatj though hard, they are porous, and, 
as they wear away> still present a continuity of 
sharp edges to the action of the grain. 

The process of grinding the corn by hand-mills 
must have been a most tedious one. Probably a 
large proportion of the grain consumed by the 
soldiers of the Barrier was simply boiled^ after 
being slightly bruised in mortars. 



Here a period must be put to this account of the 
Roman Wall and its antiquities. Many topics worthy 
of fuller discussion have been but cursorily treated, 
and some omitted altogether ; but it is impossible, in 
a work of this extent, to do full justice to a subject of 
such magnitude ; we content ourselves with imitating 
the moderation of Hadrian, who, instead of grasping 
at universal empire, sought only a dominion which 
he might reasonably hope to maintain. 

Still, we may reckon on some advantage from the 
brief communion we have held with the Mighty 
among the Ancients. We can hardly tarry, even for 
an hour, in association with the palmy days of the 
Great Empire, without learning, on the one hand, to 
emulate the virtues that adorned her prosperity, and 
on the other, to shun the vices that were punished by 



450 



CONCLUSION. 



her downfall. The sceptre which Rome relinquished, 
we have taken up. Great is our Honour — great our 
Responsibility — 

. Heavenly wisdom on this ball 
Creates, gives birth to, guides, consummates all. 
States thrive or wither (as moons wax and wane) 
E'en as His will and His decrees ordain ; 
While Honour, Virtue, Piety, bear sway, 
They flourish; and as those decline, decay. 




INDEX. 



Aballaba, 297. 
ZEsica, Great Chesters, 254. 
Agricola lands in Britain, 7. 
Aliokis, 347. 
Altars, form of, 395. 
Amboglanna, Birdoswald, 278. 
Amphorae, 445. 

Ancient Britons, description of, 16. 
Apollo, altar to, 411. 
Aqueduct at Great Chesters, 257. 
Arthur, King, traditions respect- 
ing, 205. 
Arthur's Well, 264, 
Astures, a people from Spain, 141. 

Battle of Heaven field, 167. 

Bede, on the building of the Wall, 

379. 
Belatucadrus, altar to, 401. 
Belted Will, 285. 
Ben well, Coxdercoi, 137. 
Bewcastle, 344. 
Binchester, 344. 
Birdoswald, Amboglanna, 278. 
Black-carts farm, Wall on, 196. 
Black-dike, 211. 
Blake-chesters, 321. 
Blast furnace, 443. 
Blea-tarn. 297. 
Bloody-gap, 244. 
Bogle-hole, traditions of, 245. 
Borcovicus, Housesteads, 214. 
Borcovictjs, etymology of, 228. 
Borcum or Barcorabe, quarry on, 231. 
Border strife, 296. 



Borders, state of, in middle ages, 

209. 
Bradley, 232. 
Brampton, 349. 

Bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 130. 
Bridge orer North Tyne, 170. 
Britain, first notice of, 2. 
Bremenittm, High-Rochester, 325. 
Brf.3if.tenracum, 350. 
Broaching of the stones, 85. 
Brunton, the Wall at, 169. 
Bueth's castle, 345. 
Burgh-upon-Sands, 304. 
Burnswark, 356. 
Busy-gap, 207. 
Byker-hill, 118. 

Cassar's landing in Britain, 3. 
Carrawburgh, Procolitia, 197. 
Cambeck-fort, Petriana, 288. 
Camp kettles, 444. 
Carausius, 21. 

Carlisle, Ltjgtjvallium, 301. 
Carvoran, Magna, 267. 
Castella, 67. 

Castra Exploratorum, 353. 
Caw-gap, 246. 
Cemeteries, 183, 262. 
Centurial Stones, 429. 
Chapel-hill, 224. 
Chapel-house, 274. 
Chapel- houses, 147. 
Chesters, Cilurnum, 171. 
Chesterholm, Vindolana, 236. 
Chew-green, 325. 



452 



INDEX. 



Chives on Walltown crags, 264. 
Christian remains, none on the Wall, 

421. 
Christianity, early introduction of 

into Britain, 422. 
Cilurnum, Chesters, 171. 
O/'ppi, 32 G. 

Coal wrought by the Romans, 442. 
Cocidius. altcir to, 401. 
Coins found on Borcum, 231, 434. 
Coins found in Cambeck fort, 289. 
Coins found in Newcastle bridge, 

181. 
Coins, number of Roman, relating 

to Britain, 37. 
Coins, general remarks upon, 431. 
Coins, number found on the Wall, 

432. 
Coins, Roman and Saxon, not com- 
mingled, 433. 
Coins, spurious, 365. 
Concrete, hydraulic properties of 

Roman, 182. 
Constantine proclaimed emperor, 23. 
Condercum, Benwell, 137. 
Corchester, Corstopitum, 332. 
Corstopitum, Corchester, 332. 
Cost of the Wall, 94. 
Cousin 's-house, 113. 
Crags, why the Wall built upon, 201. 
Cumming's-cross 206. 

J)ea Hamia, 417. 

f)ece Matres, 417. 

Denton Hall, 146. 

Devil's Wall in Germany, 96. 

Down-hill, 156. 

Drumburgh, 309. 

pykesfield, 307. 

Earthenware, 445. 
Ebchester, 341. 
Edward I. at Bradley, 233. 
Egyptian triple goddesses, 418. 
Ellenborough, 361. 



Emperors worshipped, 398. 
Epfiacum, 342. 
Epona, altar to, 415. 

Fibulae, 444. 
Fisher's -cross, 311. 
Forest, primeval, 310. 
Fosse of the Wall, 51. 
Fortune, altar to, 403. 

Gelt quarry, 385. 

Genius, local, altar to, 399. 

Genius of the Wall, 353. 

Gildas' account of the miseries of 

the Britons, 27. 
Glass for windows, 222. 
Goddess mothers, 417. 
Graham's-dike, 97. 
Great Chesters, iEsiCA, 254. 
Grooves in thresholds of gates, 220. 

Habitancum, Risingham, 329. 
Hadrian arrives in Britain, 11. 
Hadrian, death of, 391. 
Hadrian slabs, 383. 
Harlow-hill, 155. 
Halton-chesters, Hunnum, 159. 
Haltwhistle, 252. 
Haltwhistle-burn-head, 254. 
Hare-hill, 284. 
Heddon-on-the-Wall, 149. 
Hedley, Rev. Anthony, 105. 
Hexham, 194, 339 
Historical testimonies respecting the 

building of the Wall, 372. 
Hodgson, Rev. John, 106. 
Horsley, biographical notice of, 103. 
Horsley on Christian vows, 423. 
Hospital, camp, 362. 
Housesteads, Borcovicus. 214. 
Hunnum, Halton-chesters, 159. 
Hypocausts at Hunnum, 102. 
Hypocausts, their probable use, 

180. 
Hypocausts at Cheaters, 174. 



INDEX. 



453 



Inscriptions, value of, 187. 

Iron wrought by the Romans, 442. 

Irthington, 295. 

Itinerary of Antonine, 328. 

Jarrow, 323. 
Jupiter, altar to, 397. 

Keep of Castle of Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, 135. 
Kiln for drying corn, 223. 
Kirk- Andrews, 302. 

Lakes of Northumberland, 229. 

La m Ire, 418. 

Langley castle, 231. 

Lan Chester. 34 2. 

Lanercost priory, 284. 

Lanx, the Corbridge, 334. 

Lead wrought by the Romans, 442. 

Legio xx. engaged upon the Wall, 

247. 
Limekiln, 327. 
Limestone-bank, 195. 
Lingones at Tynemouth, 108. 
Luguvalliuai, Carlisle, 301. 

Magna, Carvoran, 267. 
Maiden-way, 269. 
Malcolm Canmore, 321. 
Mars, altars to, 401. 
Maryport, 361. 
Masonry of the Stations, 84. 
Masonry of the Wall, 78. 
Maxinms, 319. 
Middleby, 354. 
Mile-castles, 67. 
Mile-castle at Cawfield, 248. 
Mile-stone, 239. 
Mill-stones, 448. 
Military-way, f'9. 
Milking-gap, 234. 
Minerva, altar to, 402. 
Mithras, altar to, 404. 
Monument to Edward I., 306. 



Moresby, 366. 

Mortar, Roman, 86. 

Mortaria, 445. 

Mountain-god, 415. 

Mumps-hall, 275. 

Murus and Vallum, one design, 387. 

Mythology of Gothic tribes, 421 . 

Names of stations ascertained, 61 . 
Naworth-castle, 284. 
Netherby, 352. 
Nether-hall, 362. 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 121. 
Nine-nicks of Thirlwall, 265. 
North Shields, 321. 
Nymphs, 414. 

Old Carlisle, 360. 
Old Town, 349. 
Ouseburn mile-castle, 119. 

Pap-castle, 366. 

Passage of the Eden, 300. 

Passage of the Irthing, 277. 

Peel-crag, 243. 

Peel-houses, 253. 

Petriana, Cambeck-fort, 288. 

Polytheism of the Romans, 398. 

Plumpton, 358. 

Pons jElii, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

121. 
Procol,itia, Carrawburgh, 197. 

Quarry on Fallowfield fell, 80. 
Quarry on Haltwhistle fell, 80. 
Quarry, Roman, 292. 

Rapishaw-gap, 230. 

Richard of Cirencester on the build- 
ing of the Wall, 390. 

Risingham, Habitancum, 329. 

Rochester, High, Bremenioi, 325. 

Roman emperors, number who visited 
Britain, 36. 

Ruts in gateway of Birdoswald, 280. 



454 



INDEX. 



Rutchester, Vindobala, 150, 

Sacrifices, Roman, 396. 
Samian ware, 447. 
Sandals, Roman, 318. 
Secondary forts, 315. 
Segedunum, Wallsend, 105. 
Sepulchral inscriptions, 424. 
Severus lands in Britain, 15. 
Severus, death of, 392. 
Sewingshields farm-house, 200. 
Shields'-lawe, 322. 
Silvanus, altar to, 413. 
Speaking pipes in the Wall, 76. 
Stags'-horns, 269. 
Stanwix, 299. 
Stations, description of, 56. 
Stationes per lineam valli, 60. 
Steel-rig, 243. 
Stotes-houses, 117. 
Streets, narrowness of, 221. 
Syrian goddess, 412. 

Tepper-moor, 196. 

Terraced gardens, 224. 

Thirl wall-castle, 270. 

Time occupied in building the 

Wall, 94. 
Toads represented on altars, 416. 
Tower of Repentance, 307. 
Tower-tay, 195. 

Traditions regarding Cilurnum, 192. 
Traditions, Sewingshields, 203. 
Transmarine Mothers, 419. 



Troughs of stone, 158. 
Tumuli, 351, 365. 
Turrets, 68. 

Twice-brewed-ale (inn), 233. 
Tynemouth, 318. 

Vallum, description of, 52. 
Vallum, additional rampart of, 283. 
Vangiones, 427. 

Vegetation inimical to the Wall, 93. 
Vespasian and Titus in Britain, 5. 
Viteres, altars to, 395, 416, 417. 
Victory, figure of, 300. 
Vindobala, Rutchester, 150. 
Vindolana, Chesterholm, 236. 
Vindomora, 342. 

Wallend, 273. 

Wall, in relation to the rivers, 100. 

Wallis, 349. 

Wall-mill, 262 

Wall, probable height of, 47. 

Wallsend, Segedunum, 105. 

Walltown crags, 263. 

Walton, 287. 

Warden-hill, 194. 

Wardley,324. 

Water-course, ancient, 161, 257. 

Watch-cross, 298. 

Whitley-castle, 346. 

Wreckendike, 322. 

Written rock on the Gelt, 81. 

Zodiacal tablet, 409. 




NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE \ 
IMPRINTED BY GEORGE BOUCHIER RICHARDSON, CLAYTON-STREET- 'NYEST ; PRINTER 
TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, AND TO THE TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 
BOTH OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 






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